


Tales of Lao Fu

by Xanadian



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (kind of?), Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Badass Mai (Avatar), Canon Compliant, Coming of Age, Drama, F/M, Fire Lord Zuko, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Sexual Content, Post-Canon, Romance, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, maiko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:22:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26162584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xanadian/pseuds/Xanadian
Summary: Azula has decided to return and serve the sentence for her crimes after five years on the run.Mai and Zuko have been separated for about two years.One thing leads to another and Mai, Zuko and Azula find themselves in a town away from home, and one last night to enjoy it like old times. This is the story of that very eventful night.More chapters coming soon!
Relationships: Azula & Mai (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 99
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Notes - Unlike my previous Maiko fic, here I've taken the angle where the creators said that Mai and Zuko do get back together, but three years after they break up. I reduced that to two years and in this universe, Mai never got with Kei Lo.
> 
> Additional Note - The timeline means Zuko is 22, which makes Mai and Azula 20.

Zuko peered from under the lining of his straw hat, a last-minute shoddy attempt at concealing his identity, towards the coast of the approaching island. The smooth drawing of the boat over the still lake, cutting through the dawn mist revealed the musty mangroves on the edges of Lao Fu’s coast. He yawned, shaking his head gently to clear it of the mist within. He had travelled by land, and air and sea continuously for the last twelve hours, and the fatigue finally seemed to be catching up with him.

General Mak had tried to pack him a sleeping sack which he had denied in favour of a small light backpack that only held food, water, and a change of clothes. Not that it would be possible for him to sleep anyway, thoughts of seeing Azula shortly would not allow his racing mind to catch a break.

Maybe he had it all wrong. His purpose wasn’t being a Fire Lord or helping The Avatar restore balance or any of that. It was hunting. His purpose was hunting people. First, he was hunting the Avatar, then his mother. Then he found his mother but his sister went missing. Then Mai went missing. Then he had set out looking for his other sister who had also gone missing. If he found Azula now, the logical sequence would be for his father to go missing. He decided if that happened, he wasn’t going to go looking for that man and just leave it be. That sounded like the world’s personal problem. 

Perhaps, _hunting_ would not be the appropriate word for this particular trip. Azula had invited him over, basically.

The previous morning had been like any other. Bland and uninspiring. Zuko had yet again managed to drag himself out of bed and over to the breakfast table. Lately, so much had been going on in the Capital in regards to governance that he had grown too tired for even his daily shave, unbothered that the scruff growing on him probably pronounced his lethargy, a stereotypical ode to his unsatisfactory life. His hair had grown down to his neck and was starting to do its own thing too; that he handled by rounding into a pony and stuffing the rest into his crown. As it was, there wasn’t anyone for him to start looking kempt for now and even dishevelled, he could perform his duties just fine.

He took his breakfast alone, because well, who else would he take it with. But he found that sitting at the head of a twenty-person table, nothing but portraits of past Fire Lords to keep him company and the same old view of the sun blasting its rays over the palace walls did little for his appetite. So, he had turned breakfast time into his daily briefings time. His agenda for the day was read out to him, followed by letters of importance that he had received. Suyan, his assistant would announce all the things that he had to look forward to that day and with little surprise to him, he didn’t look forward to any of them. This was the drabbest part of his day.

Except for the times Mai wrote to him. Twice every month or so, she would write him a letter, continuing their correspondence that had resumed of late. And he would be delighted to hear from her. ‘Delighted’ was an understatement, but being the Fire Lord meant he often had to understate his feelings. Let’s just say the first time he had received a letter from her, the tea in the cup in his hand had boiled over.

Following that embarrassing moment in front of Suyan, he had been cautious and waited until the end of the day to write back, not wanting to seem desperate in front of his assistant who knew Zuko hated writing letters otherwise and pushed them back on his schedule as much as possible. As more letters followed, he had given up that pretence, not bothered what his assistant would think of his obvious attachment to his now ex-girlfriend. Subsequently, Suyan himself had started bringing him a sheet and a pen along with Mai’s letters.

Her letters were always so well penned. Her words painted the perfect picture of her life in Lao Fu, the sophistication of her writing shone through in every sentence. On the contrary, Zuko had never been one for a strong command in written (or even spoken, to be honest) language. But in his letters to Mai, he put the most effort he ever had in writing prose since his academy days. Even now, from miles and miles away, the most minimal contact with her was serving to better him.

So last morning had been quite out of the ordinary, when among the scores of letters and documents littering his table, just past his fruit bowl, his eye had caught one that had no stamps or seals, no official address, just the words “Zuko” in a handwriting he recognised all too well. He snatched it off the table before Suyan could get to it.

Zuko had tried to focus on whatever he continued to ramble on about, but his mind was only on the sheet of paper now in his hand. Defeated, he cut Suyan off mid-sentence sending him away prematurely, tearing through the letter with the pointed end of this chopsticks, not a second after he had turned his back.

He knew it. Azula.

_Dear brother,_

_I have some good news for you – your dear sister has decided to return home. I am frankly, tired of hiding in forests and deserted homes, running town to town, skirting around these pesky colony rebels._

_So, make space for me brother, the long-lost daughter of the land is returning home. If you are half as smart as a Fire Lord ought to be, you will realise this is what is best._

_We’ll talk about the arrangements in person shortly I’m sure. Come alone. My location details have been enclosed (but I don’t know how long I can squat here so get off your comfy tush right now and come get me)._

_See you soon Zuzu._

Bringing Azula home was indeed the best thing. Not just for her safety and his peace of mind, but also for the complicated politics involved.

As a result of much deliberation post-Zuko’s ascension, a plan had been put into place for the decolonisation of lands unfairly captured by the Fire Nation during the 100–year war. Most of these places depended on the Capital for financial, and security enforcements and so a complete and immediate disconnect was impossible. So, most colonies now had local governments that still reported to the Fire Lord. Some violent, anti-state Rebel groups had formed in these colonies and were gaining popular support from the locals who were swayed by their propaganda against him and the Fire Nation.

Zuko knew the answer was not forceful repression and he was open to dialogue with them, but the reverse was not true. Since Azula had gotten away and wreaked havoc by pioneering two tourists’ outfits and working under the garb of the Kemurikage, the Rebels had been on the lookout for her, increasingly using her getaway, to show the locals that Zuko had vested interests and let her run away because she was his sister.

If Azula gave herself up, he could offer her a reduced sentence for admitting to her crimes and also…take care of her somewhat. The locals would be confident in him once more, loosening the hold of the Rebels and perhaps open dialogue on that front.

Azula had obviously figured all of this out for herself before contacting him, he had no doubt. Even as a prisoner she had leverage over him.

Still, not knowing the extent of what was running through her devious brain, he could not tell anyone about what was happening. Anyone, except General Mak and Mai. Azula’s location had not been too far from where Mai now stayed in Lao Fu, a small settlement not far from the gates of Ba Sing Se.

It was most well-known for being a university town. A first of its kind. Students and faculty that came from the far reaches of the earth to visit and attend Ba Sing Se University often settled in Lao Fu. Noticing this trend, the Earth King had invested in developing this once quaint town into a young hub of bustling activity and it was now a model city that most other kingdoms looked to for imitation.

Realising Mai could reach Azula hours ahead of him, he had sent her an express mail via hawk, asking her to locate Azula before she had to run away again. He could not have her disappearing once more. 

He couldn’t wait for Mai’s reply. He immediately cancelled everything on his agenda on account of a sudden and debilitating sickness. Then, with General Mak’s help, he got himself a ride and boat to get to Azula. Lao Fu was closer, so he decided to make a stop and check if maybe Mai had gotten to her first.

While there were a lot of things that could go wrong on this trip and there wasn’t really a reason for him to be smiling at himself in the mirror when he finally shaved that afternoon before leaving the palace. He had anyway, thinking of seeing Mai for the first time in almost a year.

It had been approximately two years since she had left the Capital, and him.

Oh, who was he kidding with his approximations? It had been exactly 723 days since she had left him.

And this was not the first time they were meeting since. Their first encounter had been mere months after, when Azula had kidnapped Kiyi and Tom-Tom. Then, once the storm had passed and the kids were safe, they had found time to confront each other and for Mai to tearfully inform him that she needed to get away from the Capital to be her own person. Something she couldn’t accomplish while she was still there. It was a difficult time for her. Her parents separating, then her father being thrown away in prison for life, not to mention Zuko himself being a sorry excuse for a partner. He understood that she needed to get away from things, and he couldn’t possibly leave the Capital so that way their fate had been sealed.

Fate had never been kind to him by revealing her ways straightforwardly. Not once had he had to imagine his life without Mai, until the day she had stormed away with absolute finality. So, the next four months had been hell. He thought he might die every time he was reminded of how Mai was never going to be by his side again. What right did he have to lament the lack of family in his life when he had himself pushed away the one person who stood beside him through thick and thin?

Relationships, of any kind, didn’t suit him it seemed.

Friends, well-wishers, and uncle Iroh had told him he would get over it, but it seemed near impossible. It seemed more impossible to him that one day he would stop hurting over Mai than it had seemed that his father had banished him. When he took a walk on the terrace for fresh air, he would always find himself staring wistfully over to Mai’s now-empty mansion. When he was at tea with beautiful young women that his mother tried to set him up with, he could think of nothing other than how much he wanted for the woman in front of him to be Mai instead.

The second time they had met, was when he had gone for a diplomatic visit to Ba Sing Se. 135 days since he had seen her last. Toph had invited him and a few others – Ty Lee, Suki, Sokka, and Mai to dinner. Mai and Toph had gotten closer since she had moved to Lao Fu nearby and Toph had been the only person she knew. They met regularly and seemed like they had gotten closer than even Zuko was to Toph.

It had felt like heaven when Mai had hugged him and smiled ecstatically the moment that they had locked eyes.

They had spoken. Like old times. Zuko had told her about everything in the Capital, skipping over the details of the crippling emptiness in his life. But mostly, she spoke. She spoke of her amazing time in the city, her love for her job as a research assistant at the University, the refreshing air of freedom in Lao Fu. 

Seeing her that happy and expressive had filled him up just like that. Her lively smiles, her willingness to share with him, her unrestricted speech, all of it had felt like a feast for his deprived soul. A feast of the freshest, fanciest fruit tarts with rose petals on top. And while it did very little for his yearning to have her back, it did make him feel guilty for being so selfish when she was clearly so much happier away from the Capital. It was after this amicable encounter that they decided to stay in touch through their letters. 

Maybe one day he would find someone that might make him feel like Mai did. Maybe one day he would get over her. But as he strapped on his backpack with the boat pulled into the harbour, smiling about seeing her again, he realised today was definitely not that day. And until such a day arrived, he could take guilty pleasure in their letters and meetings, no matter the grave situations that usually enabled them.


	2. Chapter 2

Zuko thought he might be the only soul awake in this town; his steps uncomfortably loud in the silence of dawn. But as he walked further and further into the town center, shop shutters began to open and he could hear roosters crowing in the distance. The town was slowly coming alive with each step he took towards the location Mai had described of her new house to him (he had Suyan scour through all her previous letters for that).

He reached the house that would be unmistakably Mai’s, the only house on the street that had a ‘red-bricked and sober demeanour’.

He stepped up to the porch and rapped on the wooden door with his knuckles. There was only quiet. No sound from within. No sound from around.

He wanted to run away. Mai had probably not received his letter at all and now it was just going to be very weird for him to show up at her door pre-sunrise, looking like an on-the-run bandit. He took a step back, but then froze as he heard clicking and then the door swung open; Mai was on the other side.

His heart paced as though he had swum across the lake to Lao Fu.

Mai looked at him with less surprise than he thought she might. Perhaps it was the fact that it was way too early in the morning for her to fully process things or perhaps it was the cold that had her wincing as she shot up her hands rubbing her arms.

‘Hey,’ her voice was raspier than usual too; he had woken her up.

‘Hey,’ he responded, then instantly panicked realising he couldn’t think of any more words. ‘Hi. I’m… did you…get one…’

She raised her hand to her mouth, covering a yawn.

‘This letter…’

Mai hissed, hopping on her feet on the spot, drawing her shoulders close, ‘Zuko, it’s freezing! Just get in!’ she grabbed his arm and yanked him in through the door, shutting it behind him.

 _Right. It probably was freezing._ Zuko found himself in the doorway of Mai’s home. Even in the dimness, he could tell it was larger than it looked on the outside. 

He turned to Mai who had her arms tightly wrapped around herself, still cold in her sleeping shorts and top with only a thin robe thrown over. He followed the tilt of her head as she pointed at the coat rack for Zuko to place his coat on. 

‘Mai, Azula is…’

‘…here with me. Yes, I received your mail’ she nodded reassuringly.

A moment of silence passed as Zuko stared at her, needing a second to swallow that information. She stood, a hand outstretched onto the wooden coat rack, not wanting to rush him.

‘She’s…she’s here?!’ Zuko realised he was whispering as if Azula would jump out at him from thin air.

‘Yes. You wanted me to get her, right?’ she stepped forward, slipping up behind him and pulling the jacket off his shoulders, after he failed to do so himself, ‘Come with me.’

He had wanted her to get Azula but somehow did not expect she would. Still a little dazed, he followed her through the corridor leading away from the door. Instead of placing his jacket on the rack, Mai was draping it on herself. ‘It’s warm’ she justified.

He only nodded in affirmation. Azula was here.

They entered into the main floor of her house, the living area Zuko presumed. Only a small ceiling light lit up the space. The floors and possibly the walls were all wooden. He could see glass doors on the far end that led to the outside. It couldn’t have been too long since Mai had brought Azula here.

At first, he thought she would lead him to the stairs that led up to the upper floor of her house, but then walked past the furniture of the living room to the back where Zuko didn’t think there was anything, until she led them to a shoji screen, sliding it aside. He could see there were steps beyond it that led down. Would she be awake? Would she be knocked out perhaps?

‘Basement’ Mai announced. Once again, Zuko only nodded. As they descended further into the darkness, he looked at the torn wallpaper and the frames that hung on the walls. They probably belonged to the previous owner. It was obvious Mai didn’t spend much time here. Azula was being kept in the basement.

‘Zuko, light.’

‘Huh?’ he asked.

Mai stopped with her hand on the bannister, turning over her shoulder to look up at him, ‘Light.’

‘Oh,’ he said, producing fire on his palm.

The flame reflected brilliantly in Mai’s eyes that stared intently at him, ‘Azula is fine. She’s…stable.’

‘Okay’ he responded blankly, ‘that’s good.’

‘So…relax’ she said, turning back around, only once he had confirmed with a nod that he would, and skipping down the last few steps. 

They entered a low-ceilinged corridor at the end of the staircase. He focused on the wall lamps that he lit as they walked past storage boxes that littered the narrow passage; probably Mai’s things from the move. He focused on anything to avoid thinking of seeing Azula before he saw her. 

Mai stopped at the entrance of the only room in her basement. She stepped aside so that Zuko could undo the lock himself. He clicked it open, sliding the door aside. Once again, he wasn’t sure what he expected to see – but Azula sitting simply on the floor, lifting her head up to him as she leaned against the wall, a blanket covering her – was not how he tended to imagined their reunions.

‘Thought that might be you,’ she said, ‘hello, brother.’

There wasn’t much in the room, a mattress, no windows, and no natural light. Only the entrance that could be locked from the outside. Perfect for Azula.

Her hands and feet were locked in metallic cuffs and covered in chains that bound her fingers and toes together. Zuko couldn’t for the life of him imagine an encounter where Mai had managed to chain Azula. Mai was formidable beyond doubt, but Azula was a challenge for even him.

Zuko wasn’t sure how to respond to her, so he only said, ‘Azula.’

‘Oh, aren’t you happy to see me Zuzu? Your sweet little family is coming together again!’ Azula mocked, smiling up at him. It wasn’t a friendly smile but it also wasn’t an evil one. Not the kind he had would expect from her in the last few years. This was a little bit more like the old Azula.

‘How…how…’

‘I’m fine, thanks for your concern’ she bowed her head with a flair.

‘…did you manage to chain her Mai.’ Zuko half-turned to acknowledge Mai who leaned against the door, not even bothering to step into the room fully. 

‘She agreed to put them on’ Mai drawled.

He drew his eyebrows together, surveying Azula once more. She tilted her head innocently at him, ‘I told you, I’m _good_ now.’

‘I’ll talk to you in a while, Azula’ he turned around, ‘need to speak to you first’ he said to Mai, as she nodded and started away from the door. 

He heard Azula’s patronising voice as he exited, following Mai, ‘Look at Zuzu being all Fire Lord-y, asserting his importance. How cute!’

Ignoring her, they headed back out the corridor, shutting the door behind them. Mai pointed to his letter, kept on one of the many storage boxes, that had obviously reached her in time.

‘Mai, I’m sorry I didn’t want you to put yourself in danger or anything, but Azula offered to give herself up and I couldn’t have her disappear for any reason whatsoever. Trust me, I was pretty sure she wasn’t going to try anything’ Zuko said. 

‘It's fine, I get it. I found her where you wrote to me she would be. The mangrove forests extend way out from Lao Fu, but she was hiding in a cave not too far in. I kept a safe distance until I was sure she meant no harm.’

They walked up the stairs. Mai’s voice echoed enough in the stairwell to impart an ominousness to her question, ‘Why do you think she’s doing this?’

‘She says its because she doesn’t want to be hunted by the Rebels anymore. I don’t know if I fully believe that yet.’

‘Good.’

They entered her living room which was much more warm and bright, now that the early sunlight streamed through the glass doors on the other side that Zuko could now see led into a small private backyard. The house indeed was a lot woodier than he had first thought it might be. It wasn’t a large space, nothing like the homes they had in the Fire Nation by a long shot. But also, unlike homes in the Fire Nation – it felt…light and airy. More open, less cluttered.

It was really not the kind of set-up he would think Mai would enjoy and yet this house reminded him very much of her. The way her books lay all over the place, but in neat piles and not scattered. He could see flower beds outside sprouting at least three different colours randomly. She had clearly not been able to pick one flower and stick to it. The house smelled like her too. Fresh. 

She yawned again, her bare feet padding on the wood flooring as she moved into her kitchen, which was built in a way Zuko has never seen before. It was pretty much just an extension of her living room. A slim tabletop counter separated it from the living space. Sitting on her couch in the center, one could basically look right into the kitchen. It was a strange concept, but it oddly grew on him instantly.

‘Nice house’ he said, sitting on a high chair on the tabletop facing Mai as she went behind the counter and into the kitchen, pulling a kettle off the stove where she had apparently already made tea.

‘Isn’t it?’ she smiled at the cups as she poured the tea out, ‘At first I wasn’t so sure cause I’d never lived in a small house like this, but then I got kind of used to it and since I have to take care of it myself, it’s pretty convenient.’

She pulled out a tray from her clay oven, heaped with some warm unleavened bread and cooked eggs. He couldn’t help looking surprised at her preparations as she deposited some onto a plate for him.

‘I guessed you’d be here pretty early so…’ she responded to the raising of his eyebrows. ‘Eat something’ she added, pushing the plate towards him.

He gladly obliged. He had survived on dry crackers and water for the past twelve hours.

Mai sat down on a chair of her own, across from him. She sipped her tea, watching him as he ate his breakfast, his hair pulled back into a shoddy ponytail behind him.

She hoped she had averted her gaze in time as he looked up, staring now at her sleeves instead. No, _his_ sleeves. She was still wearing his jacket. She knew this jacket; it was so old and he had already worn it to death. She always berated him for wearing this same old one all the time, despite her having gifted him so many other, nicer ones. She was glad he had carried this one with him though.

As he bit off a piece of the bread, she noticed his face looked sunken, and not just the ‘tired’ sunken that had become his new look for the past year.

‘You’ve lost weight’ she commented.

‘No…’ he shook his head. He hadn’t. Then he realised why she felt that way.

‘Oh, it’s the…’ without thinking he took her hand, lifting it to his face. Suddenly he became hyperaware of this odd action, but it would be far more awkward to stop now. Owning his move, he placed her hand on his cheek, letting her feel the scratchiness of his scruff that had started to come through again, ‘…beard.’

Mai smiled, seemingly not minding any of what had just taken place, ‘Beard, huh?’ she looked up, tinkling her nails on the side of her china cup, mulling over the concept of facial-haired-Zuko. She returned her gaze to him with her final judgement, ‘I think a beard would look nice on you.’

‘You think?’ he asked, scratching his chin.

‘Mmhm’ she nodded, ‘You should let it grow out.’

‘Okay,’ he snickered into his teacup, setting it down and going after the eggs again.

She hid her own smile with a teacup to her lips. When she had received his letter, flown right through her window by an aggressive hawk, her first thought had been an undecipherable mashup of shock, thoughts of Azula, her own safety and what time it was. The second, one that set in a few minutes after she had exited her house strapped with her knives, was that she would see Zuko again. On her way to and from Azula’s hideout, while preparing breakfast in the middle of the night upon her return, up until the very moment he had shown up at her doorstep, she hadn’t stopped thinking what would happen when they met. Not that there was much to happen. He would come, pick Azula up, and leave. And that was fine.

He chewed, focusing on trying to break the last of his bread with his cutlery.

She couldn’t help but think how adorable he looked right now. She wondered if it would be appropriate to tell him that. Had he found someone who told him how adorable he looked eating?

‘Have you…figured out the whole Fire Lord deal yet? How’s that going’ she struck up a conversation, not because the silence was awkward, but because her mind was getting too loud. 

‘It's going. Not badly, but not well either. It’s just there. A job I do.’ He spoke, not meeting her eyes, ‘I think I’ve at least stopped worrying about figuring it out, if it happens it happens, if I lose my head in a rebellion then that’s how I go, at least one less thing to worry about.’ 

Mai shifted in her seat, not knowing what to say. He had always had a hard time with governance. He was so young when he’d ascended the throne, without the guidance of a past Fire Lord, without the support of a court that had difficulty accepting a king who had won his throne via an Agni Kai. The era that he was expected to lead was so different from anything that anyone in the Fire Nation knew about. It was understandably his primary concern in life. She couldn’t count the hours they had spent discussing policies, his speeches, his anxieties, the fire sages, and the colonies over and over again. She had hoped it had gotten easier for him over time, but it pained her to see that it apparently hadn’t.

‘Let’s take some breakfast down for Azula’ Mai said after a while, picking a covered plate and handing Zuko a tray of teapot and cups.

* * *

Zuko placed the tray down in front of Azula, ‘Eat first. We’ll speak after.’

‘You guys aren’t just going to leave me alone, right?’ Azula looked up at them; eyes shining, ‘and not just because it could cost you your lives but also because it's rude to let someone eat alone on their birthday.’

Zuko turned around to look at Mai; her eyes were fixated at the ceiling as she tried to remember the date, then pulling her gaze to him she confirmed, ‘Yeah, it’s her birthday.’

She bent to the side, looking at Azula from around Zuko's form, ‘Happy birthday Runaway Princess’ she droned.

‘Thank you, Disgraced Nobility Living in a Swamp Hut’ Azula bit back acidly. 

Zuko interjected, ‘Fine. I’ll stay and we can talk now, Mai you can leave if you’d like.’

Mai didn’t need permission; she had already turned around at ‘Fine’.

Azula spoke again, ‘Oh Mai, you should definitely stay! What if Zuzu gets all emotional talking about his family, who’s gonna wipe his tears?’ 

Both Mai and Zuko rolled their eyes as Azula scoffed, ‘Yeesh, you guys aren’t half as fun as you used to be.’

Zuko sat down in front of her, as Mai called on her way out, ‘Just shout if you need me.’

He started opening the locks on the chains tying Azula’s hands together. As the chains clinked off one by one, he noticed her nails were broken and her hands weren’t as soft as they used to be; they seemed like they had aged faster than her.

As soon as the last lock came undone, she dug into her plate. Zuko sat back watching her scarf the food down. It hadn’t struck him she probably only ate erratically while she was on the run.

‘Earth Kingdom has the best eggs’ she informed with a mouthful.

‘Happy Birthday’ Zuko replied, ‘You’re...’

‘Twenty’ she supplied.

‘Twenty’ he nodded. Five long years since she had been home last. Four long years since they had gone looking for their mother.

He let her have peace as she ate the warm meal, breaking the silence only once she had gulped down her final bite, ‘So, how have you been?’

‘Hm,’ Azula deliberated, taking a sip of her tea, ‘Not the worst, honestly. I’ve had quite an exciting time, every day a new, cheery, dandy, adventure’ she beamed, ‘I definitely could’ve used a lot more luxury though, I’ll tell you that.’ She looked up at him, ‘What about you?’

‘It's been alright. Not the worst.’

‘The weight of leading the Fire Nation too much for you? I don’t blame you though, you just aren’t meant for it.’

‘Wonderful, now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, should we discuss terms?’ Zuko replied curtly.

‘Absolutely,’ Azula set her cup down, ‘I’ll go.’

She straightened, ‘You cannot put me in an institution, I will be cared for like a political prisoner with political prisoner benefits, you will keep mother away from me, and on account of my good behaviour and outing names of other wanted criminals I will be up for a review for sentence reduction in six months.’

‘Done. Done. We’ll talk about that one. And, done, if you actually behave and give up important names because I’d like to remind you, we took down Safe Nation all on our own anyway.’ Zuko replied.

Azula rolled her eyes, then nodded once. 

‘Now my turn’ he said, ‘You will admit to _all_ your crimes to be considered for a lenient sentence, you will issue an unconditional public apology – written by me – for your actions with a promise to better yourself in prison, a single misstep from you will result in immediate termination of our deal, and you will meet a healer and trainer once a week.’ 

_No. Gross. Try me. And gross._ ‘Done. Done. Done. And gross, but done.’

‘Okay. Great.’ He straightened, ‘record for smoothest communication between us I think’ he muttered, leaning forward and clamping her hands within the chains again.

Then, standing up he said, ‘we’re leaving this afternoon, I’ve asked for a royal navy ship to come pick us up at Lao Fu, we’ll depart on that.’

Azula cocked an eyebrow at him, ‘So soon, Zuzu? Are you sure you don’t need more time to be pathetic and mopey around Mai, hoping she’ll take you back?’

‘Shut up Azula’ he responded with false calmness, walking away from her, then stopped just before he exited, not turning to face her, ‘And don’t …say anything weird in front of Mai please.’

Azula snorted loudly as he turned around to face her with a glare, palm on the handle of the sliding door.

‘What? It’s funny’ she shrugged.

The door slammed shut as Azula let out another chortle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even just writing Azula intimidates me :/ Really want her to stay in-universe.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realised I fucked up the timeline a little bit. It doesn't affect the story too much, just that it was bothering me once I realised that so I went back and fixed it. Basically, Zuko should be 22, and Mai and Azula 20. Azula hasn't been home for five years and Mai and Zuko have been separated for two. Thank you, on with the chapter!

‘This is stupid’ Azula informed for the fifth time (for good measure).

Zuko had placed her in a wheelchair, while Mai tried to cover her chained hands and legs with a blanket, tucking it in from all the loose spots.

‘You can be free once we’re on board the ship’ Zuko spoke, putting on his jacket and hat.

‘Oh please! If I wanted to, I could’ve gotten away the hundreds of times I was given that opportunity since Ms. Nobility came to pick me up last night,’ Azula rolled her eyes.

Zuko didn’t particularly disagree with Azula, but he couldn’t risk a sudden change in her mind, at least as long as they weren’t safely isolated on the ship.

Mai escorted them through the shortest, quietest route to the dock. It was now almost breakfast time for the townsfolk, but given the fact that it was a weekend, the streets, shops, and eateries were slow to come to life. The musty, yet cooling morning air of Lao Fu’s banks was so different from the dry breeze of the Capital. They mostly walked in silence, Zuko pushing Azula’s rickety wheelchair that offered the background audio to this strange trek. He wished he would say something to Mai. If not something profound, then at least something heartening. This was their last meeting in who knew how long. Did it have to be? He could come to see her again. He could invite her over to the Capital too.

‘You know you can come back here, anytime right? It was nice seeing you, so let’s not wait until Azula runs away again to meet up,’ Mai spoke. He liked to think he had wordlessly transmitted his thoughts to her. They did it all the time before and apparently the spark was still there. 

Zuko hoped his cheeks had stayed pale, ‘You know _you_ can come hang out in the Capital, right? Everyone’s there and it’s a much more efficient way to guarantee we actually see each other before ages pass.’

From her miserable spot on the wheelchair, Azula despaired, ‘You know you guys are killing me with this, right?’

* * *

‘This is ridiculous! How do you not have even a single transmission line to connect with ships?’ Zuko huffed at the old dock manager, who was nothing but irked with having a young man yelling in his face on this fine weekend morning.

‘We had one. The committee didn’t bother fixing it ‘cause we don’t get no ships in here’ he snapped at Zuko. ‘Have you tried the train, son? The fastest one in all of Earth Kingdom’ he added, smiling mockingly through his half-knocked teeth.

‘Arrrgh’ Zuko gritted, crumpling the letter he had received from his getaway ship and storming back to where Mai and Azula waited for him on the dockside.

His ship had been denied access into Lao Fu’s waters after they had been identified as a Fire Nation navy vessel and needed a Permit signed by the Fire Lord to enter. He couldn’t have submitted one since then he would have to supply a reason, which he couldn’t give and even if he did fabricate a reason it would take at least another day for it to be approved by the Earth King’s office. The letter said their best course of action was for the ship to send in a small raft to a remote riverbank they had identified in Lao Fu, not far from the town center, and bring Azula and Zuko back to the ship on it. But it would take the whole day almost for the raft to reach and they couldn’t row back at night, so the next time the two would be able to depart, would be the next morning.

There was nothing else that could be done, no matter how rough Zuko got with the letter in his hands, misdirecting his anger at the incompetence of his soldiers to get found out in such a manner onto the piece of paper. He angrily penned a reply confirming that he would board the raft with Azula tomorrow morning.

Azula sniggered, ‘Wow. What an influential Fire Lord. A king who couldn’t get a single ride home for himself. Nice.’

Mai couldn’t help spitting out the poor taste that had developed on her tongue from Azula’s incessant grouching, ‘Don’t be a bitch Azula.’

‘Like you weren’t queen bitch just some time ago. Honestly, Mai you were so much more fun back when we were trying to murder the Avatar’ Azula responded without missing a beat.

Mai looked pointedly at her, having little difficulty in masking her shock at the ease with which Azula could bring up some of the most conflicting memories that Mai constantly sought to erase.

‘Stop it, both of you,’ Zuko snapped frustratedly, folding up his response and tying it to the messenger hawk’s feet.

Azula fluttered her lashes, ‘Aw! I missed this friendship! Glad, we’re all hanging out again.’

Zuko looked at Mai as the hawk spread its wing, flying off to the vessel from where it came, carrying the Fire Lord’s scorching response. ‘Sorry Mai, but can we stay at your place for the day?’ he stroked his chin, ‘You don’t have to do anything, I promise.’

Mai nodded, ‘Its fine. I was just going to be by myself today anyway.’

* * *

She struggled to unbolt the front latch to her house, it almost always required her entire arm’s strength anyway.

‘Any other sweet quirks of your swamp hut?’ Azula asked, ‘Quite the downgrade your life has taken darling.’

‘Are you kidding Azula?’ the door finally budged as Mai strode in, ‘I happen to recall that you were sleeping on dirt in a forest cave, maybe eight hours ago?’

Azula could only frown as Zuko added softly from above her, pushing the wheelchair over the porch and onto the wood floors of Mai’s house, ‘What? No bite backs?’

‘I’m already restricted and stuffed into this wretched wheelchair; you guys can’t gang up on me like this’ she huffed.

They settle around her center table as Zuko started undoing Azula’s cuffs without waiting for her to ask. The chains looked like they might really hurt.

Mai moved into her kitchen, setting a pot of tea on her stove.

A knock on the door roughly alerted all three inhabitants of the house. Zuko jumped up and trolleyed Azula to the corner of the room, away from the direct line of sight of the door. Mai raised a hand without uttering a word to reassure them and disappeared into the doorway to address the guest.

There was clicking as the door swung open and a young male voice greeted her.

‘Hi, Feng!’ she greeted back.

‘Lovely day, right? Here's your fresh milk and eggs.’

Zuko relaxed.

‘Thank you’

A ruffling exchange of goods took place.

The smile in the man’s voice was evident, ‘You look beautiful today. Fresh. Like you haven’t spent the whole night poring over some boring academic paper.’

Mai laughed, a little awkwardly, ‘Yeah, no new submissions lately.’

The man’s voice fell a little, and Zuko strained to listen in, ‘I got these for you.’

‘Oh! Um, thanks Feng, these are beautiful. I’ll see you soon!’ her voice was even lower.

‘Take care!’

Then there was the finality of the shutting door.

They watched as Mai walked back in with a crate of eggs, a jug of milk, and also a bunch of flowers. Zuko brought Azula into the center of the living room again and sat down on the couch, continuing to undo the chains on her feet.

He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that conversation had left in him. He knew he could be jealous and possessive about Mai but it might have been decent for that feeling to have gone away after all the time they had spent apart, but evidently it hid right beneath the surface, in all its enraging glory, waiting to come out. He knew her life here was different, she had new friends now and different priorities, but being reminded of it still felt shitty.

Azula definitely couldn’t give up that opportunity to comment, ‘Does everyone in Lao Fu get a fresh delivery of flowers with their milk and eggs daily?’

Mai had speed-walked behind her counter haphazardly stashing all three items in her kitchen shelf whether they belonged there or not, ‘Feng does the catering for our university wing. He’s a nice guy.’

‘Sure seemed like it’ Zuko responded tersely. He had not meant for it to be loud enough for Mai to hear, but he was sure she had. He immediately regretted it, hating the fact that he had given in to his irrational jealous urge to say anything at all.

There was an awkward silence as Mai chose to not respond, herself not being sure if she was supposed to hear him say that. On her way back from the kitchen, she brought back the teapot along with some cups.

Azula wasn’t sure how much more of this ridiculous lovelorn cringey-ness she could handle. ‘So, how’s Ty Lee doing?’ It was a desperate attempt at dissipating the oddness.

‘Oh, she’s good’ Zuko responded, shifting as Azula rose from her wheeled confines plopping onto the couch beside him. ‘She’s still in the Capital, heading Private Security for me and the Fire Nation’s diplomatic guests. She loves it.’ 

Mai’s eyes had widened at Ty Lee’s mention, she looked at Azula sitting across from them on a settee, ‘You remember how Ty Lee would always talk about wanting a glass tiled balcony attached to her bedroom, so she could’ Mai placed her cup onto the table in favour of drawing air quotes with her fingers, ‘“greet the day” first thing each morning?’

‘Oh, she wouldn’t shut up about exactly how she was going to decorate it. Vines trailing her handrails and a red self-woven yoga carpet at the very center if I remember correctly,’ Azula spoke.

‘Well, she has one now and its exactly like she’s always wanted it’ Mai added, smiling fondly. She missed Ty Lee. 

‘No kidding?’ Azula responded. ‘That’s …nice.’

It was not shocking to find out that Ty Lee was happy and doing well. She had achieved her goals and managed to be someone important in the royal circles. While the same might not be true for Mai, Azula couldn’t say she didn’t see the appeal in living independently, away from the Capital, making a living on her own, no one to be accountable to but yourself. Her _former_ friends had outpaced her and were doing well for themselves. She wasn’t going to lie; it was bittersweet.

‘And you?’ Azula asked, ‘this rundown swamp hut could hardly be your dream.’

‘I hate to keep reminding you of your homelessness but you compel me.’ It was nice to see despite all the newfound optimism, Mai still hadn’t lost her ability to make scathing remarks without the slightest shift in her monotone.

‘I mean no, it isn’t my dream. My desperate requirement was just making it away from the Capital and my family, and just doing something for myself. Not having to think up of things to look forward to every day, not having to question my purpose. And I have that here. A career. Freedom.’

Mai said it all while playing with the threads of her sweater; the teapot sitting untouched between the three of them. 

Zuko is surprised to find that he doesn’t mind that she said any of those things in the slightest. He knew what she meant; the Capital was uninspiring for him too. Having to look for things that made him feel less empty, questioning his purpose. He gets it. Besides he hadn’t really been someone that had helped validate her feelings of adequacy so he could hardly complain that she had left.

He realised a second too late that there has been a charged pause since Mai finished speaking.

Once again Azula took it upon herself to dispel the quiet, ‘Well if pensive Mr. Fire Lord over here won’t give us his updates. I’ll catch you guys up to my thrilling life.’

‘Let me see. I’ve basically been all over Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, terrorising the general public. Everything was great for about a year; I launched two anti-state outfits and met some very interesting characters.’ She pulled her feet onto the couch, absentmindedly massaging away the soreness in them, ‘things got annoying some time two years ago when I began to be hounded by these stupid Rebels that Zuko couldn’t control. It got kind of unideal. I’ve had to be by myself for the last two years cause I never knew who to trust, running around forests and villages, trying to not get killed at the hands of some colony peasant. Mentally, I guess I’m better.’ She flicked a lock of hair out of her face, ‘I only judge from how good or bad my Firebending is, so I don’t really know, I may have gone full Ozai at some point and just never realised it’ she cackled.

Zuko, sitting beside her, shook his head almost unnoticeably. Both brother and sister had never learned to sense the dwindling of their mind’s health, never learned what was normal and what wasn’t. So, both judged from the only thing they were taught was more important over anything else – their ability to Bend.

Mai was still playing with the threads on her sweater. She wished she had one of her trusted knives in her hand, spinning one on her finger now would be so much more efficient at distracting her from the slight building up of anxiousness.

Had it not been for Zuko, she might have never known to look at Azula from a humanising lens. She had little reason to, especially not after she took Tom-Tom away from her (but to be honest Mai couldn’t say a whole lot about that since her own father had been working in cahoots with her the whole time). Since the Kemurikage fiasco, there had been times Mai had thought of Azula and wondered where she might be, hoping she was still alive if for nothing else, then at least for Zuko’s sake.

‘It’s actually kind of refreshing having you guys here, I guess. I don’t have a lot of friends that I could just hang out with so this is nice…kind of…’ Mai trailed, suddenly not sure if the other two shared her sentiment.

‘It is,’ Zuko admitted, ‘Suki and Ty Lee are the only friends I see regularly in the Capital and they work for me, so that’s a little weird sometimes.’

‘Of course, the three most friendless people from our group end up together in a boring river town. At least, if Ty Lee was here _something_ would happen’ Azula threw her head back onto the couch.

‘Lao Fu isn’t boring’ Mai drawled. Then, suddenly her voice perked, ‘Actually, why don’t I show you just how fun it is?’

Zuko and Azula look at her confused.

‘Let’s do something today. Tonight.’ Mai leaned forward, ‘Let me take you guys out! Plus, its Azula’s birthday so… a little celebration could hardly hurt.’

Azula sighed dramatically, ‘I don’t think you give two hoots about my birthday Mai, at least don’t use me as a pawn in whatever _this_ is’ she pointedly moved her eyes between Mai and Zuko.

Zuko clicked his tongue out of annoyance, glaring sideways at his sister, ‘You need to speak a lot less Azula.’ She smiled sardonically back at him. 

Mai added, ‘Why does it sound like you really want to be stuffed inside a basement on your last day of freedom? You may suit yourself, of course, Zuko and I will go’ she shrugged. 

Azula chewed her lower lip, she definitely wanted to spend as little time in that dank basement as possible. If that meant behaving like a nice little girl for these morons then so be it, ‘Fine. I’ll behave.’

Zuko shook his head looking at Mai, and dropping his voice instinctively, ‘I don't know Mai, this can be dangerous…I don’t trust Azula.’

‘I can hear you, idiot,’ Azula interjected sharply, ‘I literally called you over so you could come get me; stop pretending like I would be here at all if I hadn’t walked in on my own two feet. I allowed Mai to put me in these humiliating cuffs, didn’t I? As if she would have had _any_ chance against me, otherwise.’ There was an unexpected amount of venom in Azula’s voice as she locked eyes with Mai. She could sense the familiar chill between them, born of a horrible energy that has existed before. And Mai was hardly one to be able to sense energies of all things.

She snapped out of the moment when Zuko spoke again, she blinked, turning to look at him, still aware of Azula’s sharp gaze on her. 

‘Okay, but where would we even go?’

Suppressing feelings she would rather not acknowledge was not new to Mai. She continued in her light tone, ‘Oh, actually there’s a really cool place I want to take you guys. You’ve never been anywhere like it I’m sure. I think you both will enjoy it.’

* * *

After they escorted Azula back into the basement with a clean set of bedding, in case she wanted to catch up on her sleep, Mai and Zuko decide to have a go at the reheated tea, sitting on the steps that lead into Mai’s garden, taking advantage of the pleasant cloudy morning.

They sat close; arms touching, knees almost. Try as they might, it was hard to be uncomfortable for long around each other when it was just the two of them. For someone who owned the skills to make near every moment in his life awkward, it was shocking how with Mai, things were just so easy. They always had been. And apparently nothing could change that.

‘Why are you doing this?’ he asked after she had informed him about Lao Fu’s climate, realising there might not be any natural gap in the conversation for him to bring this up.

She raised an eyebrow at him, so he explained, ‘this whole…taking us out thing?’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, ‘I’m probably, unsurprisingly, doing a bad job of showing it but I’m genuinely happy to see you…both of you.’ 

‘And it’s not because of…how you feel about Azula and everything…?’

‘Is there some way I’m supposed to feel?’ She asked, turning away to look down at the cup in her hands. It wasn’t a rhetorical question or a sarcastic one. It was a genuine question. She really wished someone would tell her how she was supposed to feel about it. Should she feel guilty? Up until the moment she had betrayed Azula, was she not complicit in her crimes? Should she have said something earlier? Would it have even made a difference at all? Was a lot of what Azula’s life turned into, Mai’s own fault? Should she feel happy that she stood up to someone who used her?

‘I don’t know. Just don’t blame yourself. You did the right thing’ Zuko peered at her sideways.

She smiled at her hands, ‘I’ll try.’

Zuko turned away to look up the rose bushels jutting at random tufts between the tulip patches in her garden, but not before taking her image with him. Her hair was in a ponytail. He’d never seen it like that. Even just out of bed, she preferred to bunch it up into a bun, on account of the great distaste she had for her long strands grazing her face in any way at all. Her hair also didn’t waft over the familiar scent of jasmines either. There was a hint of _some_ flower, but not jasmine.

His thoughtful monologue was interrupted, when he felt her reach out and pull the ends of his hair bunched into a hairtie of his own by the nape of his neck, gently through her fingers.

Their telepathic spark was on a roll.

‘You’re really leaning into the bandit king look’ she noted.

He laughed. 

‘It’s not bad’ she shrugged, laughing herself. She wasn’t sure anything could really look bad on him.

‘I just…stopped bothering after my hairstylist left’ he said, tilting his head at her.

‘I’m so sorry Fire Lord. I would have never left had I known my move would have affected your look so dramatically’ she rolled her eyes, smiling.

‘No, but seriously, I had this one barber cut it for me once, and it took every speck of strength in my body to not banish him at the end of it.’ He couldn’t help gently nudge her with his shoulder, ‘I just don’t think anyone can do my hair like you.’ 

She smiled haughtily, ‘If we find the time, I’ll give you a trim.’

‘Meanwhile’ she placed her teacup down, ‘I can show you to the guestroom so you can take a nap before we leave in the evening, I know you’ve travelled all night so…’

‘Where are we going? What if someone recognises us?’ he asked.

Mai frowned at a small butterfly that had landed on her feet, ‘I doubt. People here haven’t really _seen_ the Fire Lord though they know the concept of you. Only people who might’ve seen you would be from the Politics Department at the university and they’re all oldies who wouldn’t show up.’ Before she could stop herself, she added, ‘I have this little picture of us in my room… _all_ of us…’ she stumbled over her words to clarify, ‘and no one that came over ever commented anything odd. So, I don’t think anyone at the pub would recognise you guys.’

Zuko could choose to focus on the idea that she had a picture of them ( _all_ of them) in her room, but his stupid masculine brain couldn’t help zone into the fact that she brought people into her room. Of course, she did. She wasn’t a loser like he was. She probably had no trouble finding valuable people to attach to herself, unlike him. He spoke about neither.

‘A pub?’ he scrunched up his nose, ‘where old, unemployed men come to drink, bet, and play bar games?’

It didn’t come as a surprise to her that that was Zuko’s first reaction to the fact that their destination would be a pub. That _was_ what pubs were in the rest of the world, even in other cities of the Earth Kingdom.

But this was not the case in Lao Fu. Owing to its large student population that was dying to get to know each other and associate in a fun and engaging manner on the weekends, coupled with the mass production of cheaper, lighter alcohol in the Earth Kingdom, there had been a rise in the kind of pubs Mai planned to take them to. Such an establishment teemed with young people who were looking to make friends, have discussions, dance, play games, and listen to good music. It had been quite a culture shock to Mai herself.

‘Not at all’ she responded, ‘This town is very young and has people from around the world. The culture here is very different, very open and very...forward. Pubs here are fun! There are tons of people, and dancing, and music, and I just think you guys will like it. It’s like a house party but crazier.’

‘Wow’ Zuko thought about what Mai was telling him, and the administrator in him inevitably thought of all the times Lao Fu had been heralded for being a melting pot of cultures and a model town for other kingdoms. It would be very interesting to see this first-hand, especially since the Fire Nation planned to shift focus to education and launch even greater, more advanced Universities than the one at Ba Sing Se. ‘That does sound kind of exciting. Who’s at these parties?'

‘University students mostly, younger working population.’

‘So…you party with your students?’ he raised his eyebrows.

‘Excuse me’ Mai side-eyed him, ‘I keep it very professional. I rarely even go.’

‘But when you do… you party with your students’ he concluded.

‘Stop it’ she punched him lightly on the arm, then added, ‘I’m like the best academician at Ba Sing Se University right now. They offered me a raise six months into the job,’ she puffed up her shoulders boastfully. 

Zuko smiled and his tone unexpectedly softened, ‘I never said this, because I guess was bitter about how everything happened, but… I’m very proud of you. This house all on your own, a noble profession, living by yourself.’ He placed a firm, protective yet affectionate palm on the crown of her head, ‘You are very cool, Mai.’

They looked at each other, unblinking, and Mai wondered if she should spill just how miserably she had failed at falling out of love with him.

Then they heard Azula shout from within the house, something that sounded like, ‘Where is the damn bathroom in this house? Or do you go in your garden Mai?’

Zuko withdrew his hand as Mai hurriedly stood up, shouting back ‘Give me a second Princess Criminal.’

She stomped into her house, leaving Zuko all by himself on her steps.

Well, at least she had enough fodder to fuel her misery for a minimum of a whole year. 


	4. Chapter 4

When Zuko woke up, the light in his room was much dimmer than it had been when he had fallen asleep that afternoon.

Fallen asleep? More like passed out the minute his head had hit the pillow. He took a moment for himself, sitting up as his hands tried to rub his senses back into his skull. Mai’s house. Lao Fu. Azula. Pub.

He trudged over to the bathroom sink and splashed some water into his eyes. It was rare that he fell asleep this deeply. He didn’t remember hearing a single sound, not one disturbance, not one dream. Was this what it felt like having a major anxiety in his life taken care of?

Or maybe it was just the reckless abandon that came from being able to pretend he wasn’t the Fire Lord, if even for a day.

‘Oh good, you’re awake’ Mai greeted him having walked into his room the same time he exited the bathroom, ‘Think you can be ready in an hour?’

‘I can be ready in ten’ he rasped, ‘I have just this one change of clothes anyway.’ He pointed at his miniature backpack sitting in the corner of the room. 

‘Well that just won’t do’ Mai said. She then extended her arm towards him, handing over a bag he didn’t realise she had been holding, ‘Here. I got this for you.’

He took the bag from her, realising it was a gift. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he smiled faintly as he looked up at her tearing open the wrapping on the box inside. 

‘Nothing crazy’ Mai responded, watched him peer inside the box, ‘What’s one more jacket in the heaps of jackets I’ve gifted you, that you will continue to ignore in favour of this raggedy old black one’ she sighed.

He chuckled, ‘I do wear your jackets. I wore the dark blue one just last week.’

He rolled open the stiff cotton jacket Mai had gotten him. It was red, she had never gifted him a red one before. It was different from anything he usually wore; it was more…modern? It had buttons and straps on the arms and seams that showed on the back and a useless faux pocket on the chest. It was _fashionable_ he guessed. It looked wonderful, but he wasn’t sure if he could pull it off.

‘I love it Mai, but this is what…young people wear, I would look stupid in this’ he smiled crookedly at her.

Mai sighed, pushing herself off the side-table she was leaning on and walked up to him. She took the jacket from him and held it up for him to slide his arms through the sleeves, ‘This is your weekly reminder that you are still very young, Supreme Commander’ she brushed the lint off his shoulders and turned him towards herself. ‘You look great.’

He did look great. When she had bought this, she didn’t think she would get to ever see him in it; not sure she had the courage to send over a coronation anniversary gift for him. She had bought it anyway, more for fulfilling her once closely-held dream of buying Zuko a gift from her first-ever earning. She had stared at the jacket that she had hung from her vanity, thinking of how he would look in something that wasn’t a ridiculously formal attire.

She hadn't quite imagined that he would look so cute. So innocent. Like a brazen young man, not like a burdened Fire Lord.

‘Thanks, Mai-

‘Hold your thanks’ she replied solemnly, drawing a knife from her sleeve, ‘Let’s just say it's your lucky day.’

She sat Zuko down on a stool that faced the mirror over the sink as she stood behind him surveying his overgrown and shabby hair. He could hear the small calculated snips she had started making behind his head. But he was not looking at his hair in the reflection of the mirror, he was looking at her.

Her eyes were narrowed, not a single unruly strand would make it past her hawk-like vision. When she has finished (he could tell because she straightened, then did her ‘mission accomplished’ sigh), she runs her fingers through his hair and he felt tingles erupt across his scalp at her touch. She walked to the front of him, and with her hands on either ear, tilted his head up to her as she surveyed the hair on his forehead.

This used to be their Sunday ritual. Except it was very different then. They would be in his vanity chamber and he would be sitting on the wide-arm chair while Mai sat in his lap facing him and trying to even out the front of his hair. He would reach up and kiss her nose or her chin or her hand and she would click her tongue in annoyance at his inability to stay still. And now, even though they were a hair’s breadth away from one another, he felt even his heavy breathing might impinge upon her space.

She stepped back glossing over her work.

‘Looks good!’ she concluded. Stashing her knife away she added, ‘I haven’t trimmed anything off your sides by the way.’

She knew he liked his sides messy; it was his _look_. He didn’t even know it was his look until Mai told him it was.

‘Thank you Mai’ he replied, standing up and wrapping his hands around her, ‘for the jacket and for Azula too.’ _For being a friend, and for being so good to me too. For being there for me and for always looking for the best in me too. For loving me and for letting me love you too._

She hugged him back, ‘Of course.’

* * *

Mai strode into her room trying to not balk at the sight of the contents of her entire wardrobe thrown in a large heap onto her bed by Azula.

‘Your wardrobe has definitely seen an improvement Mai, at least three other colours in here apart from red and black.’

Mai sighed picking up the clothes as Azula tossed them out, ‘Did you find something you liked or no?’

Azula pointed at the pair of black pants she had already picked and worn from Mai’s closet, ‘Now I just need a top that screams Azula to go with this.’

‘None of them scream Azula, they all scream Mai.’ Mai replied, sitting down on her bed.

‘How come I don’t get a gift? It’s _my_ birthday.’ Azula picked out a grey tank top with thin straps, that had caught her eye.

‘I got that for him a long time ago, just never sent it,’ Mai responded, ‘Sorry I didn’t expect you would end up at my house on your birthday, nor that I would feel generous enough to gift you at all.’

‘Fair’ she noted, picking up the grey top and walking off into Mai’s bathroom to change.

Mai fished through her clothes for a top that would match the black skirt she was going to wear. It came down to a black halter and a red full-sleeved one.

She deliberated. Black on black was always a safe bet, she could accessorize with the new emerald earrings she had bought. The red top was one of her favourites though, and Zuko always said she looked the best in red.

Why did it matter what Zuko thought? Black on black was a better idea.

Absentmindedly she reached for the red top, pulling it over her head and realising a second too late that she had picked the wrong one.

Oh well. This was good too.

Only because she was too lazy to change, no other reason.

When Azula walked back out, Mai was sitting in front of her vanity mirror doing her makeup, having changed into her clothes. 

‘Do you want to do makeup?’ Mai asked, without turning to look at her.

‘No’ Azula shrugged. She _would_ like to have done her makeup, but the sheer number of things that lay on Mai’s vanity had put her off at the very first glance. She sat down on Mai’s bed; leg crossed over her knee as she observed her. Makeup looked so different than she remembered it. There were things she didn’t recognise in an assortment of tubes she had never seen.

How had so much changed in the last few years? What did one need apart from kohl, really?

‘Do you…want me to do it for you?’ Mai asked slowly, making eye contact with Azula in her mirror.

‘Only if you want to’ she shrugged.

She sat with her eyes closed, while Mai drew on her face. She felt pencils and brushes and sponges all over her cheeks and eyes. How were there so many steps?

‘Don’t make me look like a clown’ she managed to speak between the gaps when Mai wasn’t slapping some or the other product on her face.

‘That’s an idea’ Mai drawled.

Azula took in a breath, ‘just because you’re being all nice doesn’t mean I can just trust you again, by the way, this is all very suspicious to me.’

This was really, really not a conversation Mai could have. Not now. Not ever maybe.

Mai replied, not bothering to mask her attempt at changing the topic so abruptly, ‘I think it’s very nice that you’ve decided to return home with Zuko. I hope it changes things for you. Zuko can take care of you and …’

‘I don’t know about all that’ Azula cut in, ‘I’m choosing to go to _jail_ over letting someone take care of me.’

Mai sighed, ‘why are you so against change Azula?’

She didn't reply right away, and not just because her lips were undisposed due to Mai’s lipstick application at that moment.

‘I don’t know any other way to be’ she finally said. She didn’t know why she had said anything at all. Especially to Mai.

‘Well, there are other ways to be.’ Mai responded, using her fingers to wipe away things on her face that Azula couldn’t see, ‘Zuko found one, Ty Lee found one, and I think I’m finding mine too. Hell, it’s a long, convoluted process but if I can do it, you definitely can.’

‘Okay, ew,’ Azula frowned, ‘I don’t want to talk about this weird…mushy stuff. Like Zuko and Ty Lee weren’t enough now you have to jump on that too?’ Azula continued, ‘Besides, it’s not like some big thing is going to happen and my true calling will come to me or some ostrichhorseshit. It’s fine. I can live with myself knowing I fucked up my life. At least I did it on my terms.’

Mai sighed, stepping away, ‘You’re all done by the way. I’m going to go do my hair.’

Without waiting for a response, or a ‘thanks’ that she knew wasn’t coming, Mai walked away leaving Azula to herself in the room.

The moment Mai had left, she leaped over to the vanity to take a look at herself. Azula didn’t underestimate Mai’s ability to actually send her off looking like a clown; she just couldn’t be trusted. 

But when she looked at herself in the mirror, Azula was almost speechless for a second. She looked so…good.

Her eyes were wide as she ran her fingers over her cheeks; how could all that product sit on her face and make it look like she had almost nothing on. It hid the scar on her chin that a prickly vine had given her when she had tried to hide in a bush full of prickly vines only a few months ago. Her eyes looked so big and pronounced. Her skin seemed to glow almost. Living like a fugitive, she had forgotten she could look like this, so young and healthy.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had gotten ready, and looked nice. Her coronation maybe?

She ran her hands over the grey top that hugged her frame and showed off her curves. Its bluish tones helped reflect the golden spark in her eyes. She had not known tank tops were her thing, but turns out they were.

She smiled at herself. It was good to be reminded of her superior good-looking royalty genes once in a while.

* * *

Mai was not sure why, but she had decided to do her hair like she used to all the time before. Her signature double-buns. She had stopped doing them that way and also had to switch up her hair supplies because they didn’t suit the humidity of Lao Fu as opposed to the dry air of the Capital. But tonight, she had decided to go full ‘Fire Nation Mai’ with her hair. 

She put on her heels, the most heel-y heels she had, which were still pretty short. She just wasn’t comfortable in heels, but spirits did she love how they made her feel. Oddly confident. She walked into the hall, trying to put on a silver pendant over her crew-necked red top, the finishing touch of her look.

Mai walked over to the reflective surface of her glass doors, trying to catch a glimpse of herself in them. She saw Azula walk into the hall from the corner of her eye and called out, ‘Azula could you give me a hand with this?’

A second later she heard Zuko’s voice close behind her, reaching for the chain she fumbled to lock, ‘I’ve got it.’

She stiffened. She could have sworn she had seen Azula.

As he tried to nudge the chain into the locking hoop, he recognised the waft of jasmine that was so overpowering standing this close to her. For a second, he was so excited and he couldn’t help but stumble in his attempt to speak, ‘Your hair…the jasmine stuff…you didn’t have it in earlier.’

_Great sentence. Good job Zuko._

‘Uh. Yeah…you noticed?’ Mai couldn’t contain her surprise. She had stopped using it because it did little to control the frizz in her hair from Lao Fu’s warm climate, but today, for old time’s sake she had decided to put it on.

Zuko stepped back, having placed the chain securely on her neck. He looked at Mai as she turned around to face him, for the first time seeing her in her complete attire. She looked stunning. _Painfully_ stunning the throbbing in his chest could confirm. He had never seen her wear a short skirt; her slender long legs were a blessing to behold that she, unfortunately, chose to cover up most of the time. Her outfit was surprising to him though; these clothes were not something she could ever wear in public in the Capital. The Capital was perhaps the most austere and conservative place, especially for a noble. The most freedom they ever got in those aspects while growing up, were during the few days they would spend in Ember Island.

She seemed to know what had him thinking and responded, ‘It’s all good here. You should see some of my students’ she shrugged, ‘my outfit is honestly modest.’

Zuko smiled, ‘Really?’ raising his brows. He wasn’t exactly complaining.

Mai nodded, ‘Lao Fu is very progressive and… liberal. You’ll find out.’

If _this_ is what liberalism had to offer... 

Zuko smiled his lopsided grin at her, ‘You know I’m a big fan of that liberalism.’

‘Shut up’ Mai rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself. 

It was impossible for them to not flirt with each other; a mode of communication that wasn’t peppered with cheeky remarks and teasing glances had just never existed between them. It came so easily.

Mai at least, didn’t mind it in the slightest.

Azula barged into the hall on cue, ‘Are you losers ready, or…?’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realised after I was finished writing that I subconsiously ended up making Mai look like this one fanart I'd seen of her a long time ago. It's one of my favs and it's by the artist @gittanart on Instagram if you'd like to see :) https://www.instagram.com/gittanart/


	5. Chapter 5

From the outside, the establishment had looked small and dingy, but the moment they had stepped inside, Zuko felt a city might be contained within it. A wild, exciting, loud city where no one exceeded the age bracket of 18 and 25.

It took him a moment to segregate the different elements that had attacked each of his senses. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the low-lit, woody interiors, the parlour was definitely much larger than it appeared at first. It was multi-storeyed even. Everyone’s movements seemed to be coordinated to the beat of the music that played courtesy of the live band. The music was heavy on the drums but not too rash. There was also an immediate waft of alcohol, some kind of light alcohol, that he presumed was stored in the tall mugs that many servers carried on trays around the parlour.

As his eyes adjusted further to the lighting, he noticed the place was teeming with people who looked nothing like the people you would see expect to be from here and around. So many different colours and features. So many different clothes, some unlike he had ever seen before. As soon as his ears were able to tune past the music and into the human voices around him and he was sure he had heard at least two languages that were not local within the first minute. It was definitely a culture shock.

‘This is fun!’ he heard Azula yell beside him. From the corner of his eye, he could see her reaching eagerly on her tiptoes to get a better look at the place. Mai was smiling smugly at Azula’s approval for her choice for their evening out.

Zuko nodded, a little bit unsure still; parties were just not his thing.

‘What are we going to do first?’ Azula turned so that she faced them. There was excitement in her voice that was all the more palpable as she rose her volume to be heard over the commotion, ‘I can see there’s an upstairs area and it sounds like most of the party is up there. Or! Or…’ she pointed an excited finger at the back, ‘we could go check out the games first?’

‘Um, so usually when I come in, it’s not this crowded,’ Mai replied, surveying the place. ‘I have this one spot at the back, where there tends to be the least amount of disturbance. I sit there for a while, maybe have a drink or two, greet some friends I might see, and then call it a night,’ she shrugged. 

‘Oh, that’s a nice plan actually,’ Zuko nodded, relaxing at Mai’s words. That’s right, how could he have forgotten that only one person existed who despised large social gatherings even more than him. He was glad to see that even through her metamorphosis she still remained a loyal member of their ‘Let’s Get Out of Here’ club. 

Azula’s face fell, ‘What –

Zuko smiled proudly at Mai as she smiled back with a raised eyebrow, not sure why they were having a ‘moment’.

‘-in Koh’s REEKING REALM!’ Azula’s mouth was ajar as she gaped at them both. Zuko reached up to cover the ear she had screamed right into.

‘Are you guys serious?’ she asked as Zuko and Mai stared blankly back at her. ‘You guys are serious,’ she concluded throwing her hands up into the air.

Zuko sighed, ‘Look, we should keep a low profile anyway –

‘You both are absolute losers, no fun at all!’ Azula’s face soured like she might have smelled Uncle Iroh’s slipper, ‘So you can both go sit down in your sad corner and plan a nice loser wedding for yourselves or whatever, I’m going my own way,’ she announced.

‘You have to stay with us,’ Zuko firmly reminded. He had let a little ‘Fire Lord’ seep into his tone to sufficiently indicate to her that this matter was not up for discussion.

‘Sorry Zuzu,’ she replied, spinning on her heel.

Zuko reached out immediately and grabbed her wrist, ‘Azula, I said no.’ 

This matter was _not_ up for discussion.

Azula and Zuko looked at each other; no words were exchanged. Mai watched as brother and sister found a reason to butt head not moments after their ‘night out’ had begun. She wasn’t even sure whose side to take. It would be cruel to force Azula to sit with them if she wanted to explore, that _was_ the whole point of bringing her out with them. But also, it made sense for Zuko to want to keep her with him.

Azula sighed, blinking first in defeat, as her eyes shone in a way they never had before, ‘Zuko. Just… trust me. I understand why you wouldn’t want to, but…please. I’m just going to go around and have some fun. No firebending even.’ There was no trace of maliciousness in her voice, ‘let me enjoy one last time before we go back to the Capital tomorrow.’

Zuko let go of her hand, not because he had changed his mind, but because of the tone of Azula’s voice. She had never spoken to him like that. Or maybe she had, back when they were kids? For some reason, an image had popped up in his mind from the time they had gone playing in the pantry and Azula had dropped a whole bag of flour on the floor and pleaded with him to not tell on her. He didn’t even know he remembered this episode until now; maybe it was just one of those memories that one’s brain fabricated.

He sighed. Azula always lied, yes; but lately, he had learned that Zuko trusted her anyway.

‘Fine,’ he grumbled, ‘Come find us in an hour though.’

‘Amazing!’ she beamed, ‘I’ll catch you losers around!’ He was pretty sure he had seen her skip on her way away from them. 

He felt Mai’s fingers wrap around his forearm as he watched Azula’s head disappear in the crowd, leading him away from the entrance and into the bar, ‘I think she’ll be fine.’

Zuko asked from behind her, ‘We’re fun right?’ He dodged a waiter that had almost walked right into him carrying at least five glasses of drinks in the tray on his hand, not really minding the lack of apology. He knew just how horrible and thankless this job could be.

‘We’re fun,’ Mai confirmed, nodding back at him.

There were people gathered together in a spot in the center that seemed to be reserved for the dancing. A fire was lit within a spinning crystal that threw the firelight in a wonky fashion on the floor.

 _Quite the mood-setting_ , he noted.

He could see far off in the back people were throwing darts, and placing bets on chips, and throwing rings around bottles. The large floor space was intermittently covered with long tables were students sat laughing and talking to one another. There were also many couples, doing couple-y things. This, at least, was a common quality of young people across lands. Zuko smiled, thinking of the popular spots in the Fire Nation where couples would get together and _hang out_ , without the fear of being seen by their families or being judged for their choices. 

Even just on their way to the table, people (her friends?) had noticed Mai and were calling out to her. _Hi Mai!_ _Mai, so good to see you here! Who’s that cutie, Mai? “Indecipherable exclamation” Mai!_ She waved and hi’d back, not really stopping to have a chat at any point, making a beeline for her ‘usual’ table and pulling Zuko behind her.

Mai hadn’t really been one to have a ton of friends even as far back as their Academy days. He didn’t know when she had started tagging along with Azula and Ty Lee but as far as he remembered, it was after her mother had brought her to the palace to visit a few times, forcing her to make friends with Azula. He had noticed even then, she never minded just being on her own.

Whenever they all played hide and seek, he would go hide with her because Mai never stuck around in her hiding spot for more than two minutes. If the seeker didn’t find her, they had lost her. She would just get up and go play a different game or go feed some animals or something.

She had told him afterwards, when they could peacefully look back at their lives during the war, how lonely she had been in Omashu. Being Azula’s friend meant she never had to try to befriend people, in fact, she often had to avoid them. Everyone wanted to get close to the prince and princess of the Fire Nation. Then, suddenly she had found herself in a place where she didn’t know anybody or how to make friends.

She would tell Zuko jokingly that she was glad as her boyfriend, he came with four more in-built friends because she had no clue how to make more as an adult.

It felt good, knowing all this, that Mai had found a community here. But he doubted that these were close friends, they were possibly no more than casual acquaintances; he hadn’t forgotten the darkening of her voice when she had admitted she didn’t have many friends to hang out with, in Lao Fu.

Just as they reached their table, a man appeared in front of them, stopping Mai in her tracks.

‘Mai!’ he roared, ‘here? On a weekend? Can’t be.’

Zuko could tell he wanted to go in for a hug but couldn’t because Mai was still holding his hand; he was pretty sure she had forgotten that she even was. For a second, the man locked eyes with him. While he wasn’t taller than Zuko, he was much larger. Zuko could tell he was used to intimidating people with his size. He stared back, reflecting the man’s arrogant posture in his own hardened gaze.

The guy broke away, looking back at Mai, having deemed Zuko unworthy of his acknowledgment. He didn’t know why, but this infuriating, momentary contact made Zuko want to throw fire.

‘Always a first,’ Mai replied, her calmness a contrast to the man’s animated tone, ‘I’m here with some friends from out of town, so maybe I’ll talk to you later?’ Zuko could tell she wanted to hurry him off.

‘You should come dance with us!’ he boomed, ignoring her, ‘bring your friend too,’ he added, still not willing to make friendly eye contact with Zuko.

‘Thanks, Chen,’ she replied, ‘but I’d rather not.’

‘Oh, come on!’ the man replied rolling his eyes. He turned away and yanked Mai’s other hand behind him, causing her to let go of Zuko’s.

Before she could protest, she saw Zuko reach forward from behind her and firmly place a hand on Chen's shoulder. He spun around at the hostile contact.

‘Pretty sure she said no,’ Zuko glowered back.

The man stared angrily back at him, clearly offended by his interruption, gauging if Zuko was trying to threaten him. Zuko wasn’t unsure, that _was_ a threat. He knew if this guy tried anything, anything at all, the next moment there would be fire.

This is exactly what Mai had dreaded. Zuko was so impulsive, there was no use talking to him. She stepped between them.

‘Chen please,’ she said in a hushed voice, looking around to not draw attention on themselves, ‘Some other time?’

The man looked down at her and swallowed his anger, ‘Only because it’s you, Mai. Otherwise, your friend here might have seen the dark side of Lao Fu on his little vacation trip.’

Mai had to stop herself from rolling her eyes, if only Chen knew how close he had been to stepping into his grave a few seconds ago.

He gave Zuko a final look before walking away. Zuko frowned at Chen’s retreating back, as Mai raised an eyebrow up at him, ‘You need to calm down Zuko, we can’t risk you blowing your cover.’

‘Who was that guy?’ he asked, a little more angrily than he had wanted to. Being Fire Lord meant it had been a long time since someone had dared to look his way with even slight arrogance, let alone lay a finger on his girl – on his… _friend_.

‘Just…nobody’ Mai shook her head, seating herself on the high table with the high chairs that Zuko had assumed from far would be uncomfortable, but were surprisingly not.

 _Nobody._ A nobody who knew Mai didn’t frequent this place, a nobody who felt he could drag her to into a dance.

This was stupid. Why was he getting so pressed over this? There was nothing he could do; this was her life and he could only be okay with it. In fact, he had, in his usually pushy and overwhelming fashion tried to act on her behalf, and sour her relationship with a friend perhaps.

‘I’m sorry about that,’ Zuko mumbled plainly.

‘It’s fine’ she replied, as two tall glasses of cold light brown liquid were placed in front of them by a server, ‘have this,’ she said pushing one towards him.

‘Light mead,’ she announced, clinking her mug against his before taking a swig. He followed suit, gulping down some of the cold brew. It was a little bitter but mostly pleasant. He could tell it was light on the alcohol content and thus why it was served in such copious amounts. He noticed as he placed the mug down that it sported some kind of circular paper…badge? It was stuck on there with the help of the condensation on the outside of the mug– Dragon’s Den, it read. The name of the establishment.

‘Why is it called that?’ Zuko pointed at the paper badge on his glass.

‘Oh!’ Mai perked, ‘The owner is from the Fire Nation I’ve heard, so weekend nights they have this big dragon dance thing. A huge mechanical dragon descends from its spot in the roof and people dance around it. Quite a sight.’

Zuko nodded, a little more interested in the cheery quality of her voice that came so much more frequently into her speech now, than the dragon dance, ‘You’re different here. In a nice way…’

‘Yeah?’ she asked, running her fingers through the sleek bunched lock that cascaded from her bun. 

‘Yeah, much more open,’ then he hurriedly defended, ‘I’m not trying to be like… you know?’ he really wasn’t flirting, or trying to win her favour. He was being honest, ‘I really do love that you seem happy.’

Even then, in this darkened corner of the room, he could see she had blushed.

He couldn’t lie, there was some sweet selfish satisfaction he used to find in the fact that he was the only one Mai would open up to. The only one that got to enjoy the unrestricted extents of the lethal sharpness of her wit and her dry, sardonic humour. That he was the only one that got to hear her raw, unformed ideas as she spoke them out loud (only her indestructible, invulnerable ideas and arguments were ever made public). That he was the only one she admitted her fears and hesitancies to.

He didn’t know how much of it she was sharing with others now, but as he had grown older and wiser and learned (through her) that selfishness, was not love, he could appreciate that she was able to share her beautiful self with more people.

‘How’s home?’ she asked, ‘Your mom? Kiyi?’

‘They’re good,’ he nodded, ‘Kiyi took three hours to adjust to her new environment and mom is still adjusting.’

Mai nodded; family was not an easy subject for either of them. She hoped he wouldn’t ask about Michi or Tom-Tom, she missed them far too much for her to be able to discuss them casually right now. Letters hardly made up for watching her little brother grow.

‘So, how’s life in Lao Fu?’ he smiled, ‘Are you seeing someone or…?’

She placed her mug down after taking another swig, ‘I saw some people,’ she shrugged, ‘Nothing serious though, I think I like having it that way.’

 _Saw some people._ ‘Uh-huh,’ he voiced calmly, pushing the glass that was warming up under his palm away from him.

‘What about you?’ she asked.

‘Nah,’ he snorted, ‘nothing.’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked smiling, thumping her palm flat on the table, ‘big bad leader of the Fire Nation and no new girls?’

‘More like just bad leader of the Fire Nation’ he muttered. Then shrugging, he added, ‘It just… never happened.’

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully, ‘Come on, you can be suave if you want to.’

‘At least, you can leave the patronising out of it,’ he rolled his eyes, slinking back against his chair. ‘If I don’t have any game, it’s all your fault because I never had to try.’

He took a swig of his drink, forgetting he had turned it undrinkable-y warm when Mai spoke about her love life. He winced mentally.

‘Excuses,’ Mai chided, ‘how come I have game?’

‘Simple,’ Zuko explained, ‘you don’t.’

‘Ah’ she mouthed in mock surprise, then folded her arms across her chest, ‘I can get anyone here to buy me a drink.’

‘You’re cute I agree, but you’re also delusional.’

‘Alright,’ Mai announced, ‘I know just the thing! Let’s play a game.’

‘What game?’

She leaned in close, both hands resting flat on the table, ‘We both go around this bar, which is pretty filled tonight, for like… thirty minutes and get as many people to buy us a drink as possible.’

She picked off the paper badge from her glass and pointed to it, ‘whoever has more of these at the end of thirty minutes, wins. There are only two rules – no cheating, and don’t actually drink all the drinks you score.’

He took a deep breath in, drumming his fingers on the wood of the table, ‘I don’t know Mai…’

‘Oh, come on! It’ll be really nice for you to meet people your own age and talk to them and get _game_ ,’ she winked at him. 

It _would_ be a good way for him to get his mind off Mai, and meet people, and get used to the idea that she could do the things she used to with him, with others now.

‘But this won’t be a fair game,’ he noted, ‘You know people here and your potential pool is higher because it includes women.’

‘Fine,’ Mai replied, ‘two of my stickers will count against one of yours.’

Zuko smiled, sitting up straight, ‘Let’s do it.’

* * *

Azula decided that the first thing she was going to do, was head for the upper floor; the music that unmistakably came from beyond the stairs was beckoning her.

She walked around awed by how many people her own age just seemed to be out and about. Mai was right, she had never seen anything like this. The closest they had come to it was being invited to house parties, and being who they were – prince and princess of the Fire Nation, on opposites sides of a war at the time in their lives when they might have experienced something like this, meant enjoying their youth had hardly been an option.

She made her way, skirting around people that danced or just stood talking and laughing. She got the feeling that not many people seemed to know one another but that hardly seemed to stop them from mingling.

She realised she was walking beside the drink station when the young man behind it, whose job seemed to be pouring out the drinks into mugs, handed her one.

‘Drinks for exceptionally pretty ladies are on us,’ he smiled charmingly at her.

Azula thanked him, taking the mug into her hand, smiling into it as she tasted the mead. She could get used to this attention. If _this_ was what Mai’s life was like now, then Azula could totally understand putting up with that swamp hut. Good for her. She didn’t deserve it, but good for her. 

She quickened her pace as she noticed up ahead, a small crowd of people gathered in the center. It’s where the music was coming from. She excused herself through the crowd, making her way to the front. Four or five people in the center were dancing to the beat of the music. As the tempo quickened, they struggled to keep up with it.

She tapped the shoulder of a man standing beside her, ‘Can you explain to me what’s happening? The rules of this game?’ she asked.

The man looked at her for a second, a bit startled.

‘Eh. Please,’ she added, for good measure.

‘Sure,’ he smiled. Azula couldn’t help notice how dazzling his smile seemed even in the dimmed lights. ‘They just need to keep up with the music without stumbling or falling behind. Last man standing, wins.’

‘Wins what?’ she cross-questioned.

‘I don’t know,’ he furrowed his brows, smile still unaffected, ‘I don’t think that’s the point.’

Azula nodded, turning her attention back to the contestants, there were only two now.

‘Are you going to compete?’ the guy leaned in sideways towards her.

‘No,’ she replied, turning to face him, ‘I’m going to win.’

They locked eyes momentarily. The man was struck at how wide and shiny her eyes were, ‘You’re very pret –, before he could finish his sentence, Azula turned at the sound of the announcer’s voice declaring the next round.

She jumped into the center, feeling her steps and moves as the music started out slow and a few other challengers joined her.

The sound of people cheering and clapping around her was so invigorating. She hadn’t felt this way in years. She laughed; this was too easy. As a Firebender her limb coordination was par excellence and she had unlimited stamina, this coupled with her severe allergy for defeat meant she had to barely try at all to keep up with the increasing tempo of the music. One by one the other players failed and fell out while the crowd cheered louder for the little flairs Azula was adding to her dance moves. She _was_ a people person.

Just as she was about to become the last person dancing, a new player joined the mix. The guy from before. She turned to look at him, smiling and raising her eyebrows, wondering if she had found a formidable opponent.

Not at all. The guy fumbled over his own feet, smiling crookedly at Azula, with his pathetic attempts to keep up. The crowd laughed at his pitiful performance, Azula did too and so did he. The announcer took it upon himself to crown her the winner.

She slowed to a halt, panting a little as the guy took her hand and raised it over her head and the crowd cheered and clapped crazily for her. She looked at him and said, ‘You were horrible, why did you join?’

He shrugged, ‘I just wanted to dance with you.’

Azula blushed, panicking a little as she tried to think of what Ty Lee would do. She smiled back sweetly, effectively weirding herself out and stopping abruptly.

The announcer came to her rescue, ‘Would our winner like to request a song?’

‘Uh,’ her mind raced. She didn’t know any recent songs, definitely none that would be popular in Lao Fu. She would totally give herself away if she said anything.

Her new friend, still holding her hand, responded for her, noting her awkwardness, ‘I’d like to request ‘Celestial Beauty’ for the lady please.’

Her ears perked; she knew that song. It was popular for being in 'Love Amongst the Dragons' even when they were kids. It was also sickeningly romantic. Shockingly…that didn’t bother her very much at the moment. It also didn’t bother her how close they were standing.

‘May I know your name?’ the man asked, as the crowd began to disperse, dancing now to the charged tunes of _Celestial Beauty_.

Her name. Oh no, she hadn’t picked a fake name.

Anula. Anula. She heard in her head. _Anula._

‘It’s An –

‘Anula?’ the guys asked, as Azula looked at him surprised. How had he read her mind?

‘That guy over there is calling you,’ he pointed behind her. She turned, following the direction of his finger.

That hadn’t been her brain she had heard; it was her brother. Zuko stood some distance away waving his hand at her over the crowd and yelling ‘Anula’. Of course, Zuko was the one ruining this moment for her.

She turned back to the man, reaching on her toes to whisper to him, ‘Wait here for me, I’ll be back in a minute.’

He nodded before Azula sped through the crowd, reaching Zuko who stood with his eyes wide, mouth open in amusement staring at a large, boxed chamber, beside him. What was the idiot doing over here without Mai?

‘What?’ she asked annoyed, ‘I thought you were going to leave me alone.’

‘Look at this!’ he pointed at the boxed chamber, ‘You go inside it, pick wherever you want to be, and have a photograph of you – _in that place_!’

‘Okay…?’ Azula asked, raising her eyebrows at him. She really just wanted this to be over so she could go back to that cute guy whom she hadn’t even asked for a name yet.

‘So, let’s take a picture! Remember how we pestered mom to let us take pictures of us at the fair?’ Zuko smiled excitedly down at her.

‘Okay, fine. Go get Mai then, I’ll be around here,’ she said. No, she wasn’t going to be around, she was going to go back to that guy.

‘No Mai. Just us,’ Zuko said, putting both hands on Azula’s shoulders and walking her into the box.

Azula conceded, pushing aside the drapes that curtained the entrance of the chamber. The inside of the metallic box was a small, extremely bright chamber. They strode in, standing beside the bench where they would have to sit. Zuko excitedly greeted the woman who stood beside the camera device. Beside her was a larger lever that she had her hand on.

‘What place would you like to have your picture in?’ she smiled, ‘You can pick from – Kyoshi Island, Southern Water Tribe, Omashu, Foggy Swamp, Lake Laogai, Ember Island –

‘Anywhere that isn’t Fire Nation,’ Azula replied.

‘No Fire Nation please,’ Zuko agreed simultaneously. Then brightly he asked, ‘Ba Sing Se?

‘As ex-ruler, I approve,’ Azula replied quietly.

‘Ba Sing Se,’ Zuko announced to the girl, sitting down on the bench beside Azula. The girl pulled the lever and the metallic sheet backdrop behind them opened like a door down the middle and parted at the command of the lever, rumbling as it shifted through the many locations and settled on Ba Sing Se. The two metallic plates painted so meticulously with very realistic details of a locality in Ba Sing Se, closed behind them, making it look as though they sat not in a stuffy chamber in Lao Fu, but in the middle of a street in the Earth Kingdom's capital.

‘Ready?’ the girl asked, disappearing behind the large camera device. Azula sat with her hands on her knee, not knowing what else to do. Then just before the blinding flash of the camera, she felt Zuko wrap his hand over her shoulder and pull her in towards him. The picture was taken before Azula could fully process her astonishment.

Zuko let go and looked at her, still smiling. ‘Thanks,’ he said, making to get up.

‘No wait,’ Azula hurriedly added, ‘Let’s take another one, I think I blinked.’

‘Alright,’ Zuko sat back down beside her, placing his hand over her shoulder again. This time, surprising herself, she threw an arm over his shoulder too. Zuko whispered, ‘Do the _Teeth-Check-Smile._ ’

Teeth-Check-Smile was what Ursa made young Zuko and Azula do, first thing in the morning when they showed up to the breakfast table to ensure they had brushed and cleaned their mouths properly.

She did the _Teeth-Check-Smile_ so hard, it made her cheeks hurt.

‘Done!’ the woman announced.

‘I’m going to keep that; do you want to take another one for you…?’ Zuko asked.

‘Not really,’ she shrugged.

‘Okay,’ Zuko said, smiling at the woman as she handed him the picture, ‘See you in a bit then, I have to go win a challenge.’

Azula watched as he disappeared beyond the doors of the chamber. She got up and walked over to the woman, ‘Do you have that first picture we took?’

‘Yes,’ she bent down, picking it up from the pile of rejected photographs of the night and handing it to Azula.

She thanked her, looking down at the picture as she walked out of the chamber. Zuko was beaming while Azula smiled faintly, her eyes wide at Zuko’s sudden show of affection. They really did look very similar.

* * *

Mai sat with her head resting in the palm of her hand, looking politely over at the man who was trying to win her attention, while she only tried to win a mug from him. She had been doing this for about twenty minutes, the six stickers on the back of her hands were testimony to that, but her heart hadn’t been in it for even a second.

When she had first suggested this plan she thought one of two things would happen – either Zuko would get jealous and confess his feelings for her or she would flirt with people in front of him and it would be the final nail in the coffin of their relationship (the latter was mostly just wishful thinking, Mai had not even remotely started working on the coffin of their relationship).

However, neither of these two things had materialised. Instead, the more she flirted with people, knowing Zuko was out there somewhere talking to someone else, and that she had stupidly given up precious time with him, made her feel even more empty and restless. She didn’t care about this anymore.

‘I-I’m sorry, I just need to go find my friends,’ she interrupted the man who had some point started talking about his new job as the caretaker of the East Library or something, ‘You’re delightful but I’m very sorry.’ She apologised again to the clearly dejected man, stepping off the high chair.

As she stood up, feeling like the floor had resisted her stability for a moment, she realised she might have broken her own rule and taken one too many swigs from the mugs she was offered. She decided to go looking for Zuko. She was sure he would be more than happy to see her and end his ordeal of having to speak to strangers, earlier than proposed.

As she began walking into the crowd, she saw Chen making his way toward her and almost walked the other way. She stopped herself, realising how rude that would be. But maybe a little rudeness wasn’t misplaced, Chen had been trying to hit on her for almost three months now to no avail and no amount of subtle hinting seemed to make it into his thick skull.

‘Mai –

‘Chen, not now –

He was lucky she hadn’t mentioned to Zuko just how much he pestered her.

‘We’re going to leave Dragon’s Den and go hang out by the outskirts. You should come, Mai. You, me, the full moon –

Before he could continue, Mai butted in, slightly emboldened by the minimal alcohol in her system, ‘Look Chen, I’m sorry, but it’s just not going to happen.’

‘Especially not after today,’ she added under her breath.

Chen huffed, ‘It’s that guy who was with you, isn’t it? I can tell you guys have a thing.’ Mai strained to look behind Chen to try and catch a glimpse of Zuko, ‘So, that’s your type Mai? _Mauled?_ ’

‘Hey!’ she pointed a threatening finger inches from Chen’s nose, ‘Watch it.’ She warned.

Chen breathed down his anger, clearly a little surprised at the hostility in her threat, ‘Fine. Waste your time on him, while he’s out there flirting with other girls.’

‘Where is he?’ Mai asked.

‘Saw him chatting up this cute girl in the back earlier,’ Chen pointed dismissively to the back of the parlour.

‘Thanks,’ Mai responded, manoeuvring through the swarm of people in the direction Chen had pointed her to.

Sure enough, she noticed Zuko’s red jacket from a distance. He sat behind a table, next to a girl. They were sitting awfully close to one another. Mai stopped where she was, choosing to witness the sight from afar.

She noticed there was one, maybe two stickers on the back of his hand? Expected. But the way he was talking to that girl? Not expected. At all. He smiled and whispered into her ear while she giggled. Their hands were on the table, not holding each other’s, but still touching at every point from the wrist to the elbow. The girl threw her head back laughing, as Zuko watched her, his lips curled into a smile. There was no reason for her to find anything Zuko was saying this funny. His jokes were absolutely trash.

This was such a bad idea. She had never seen Zuko flirting with other girls and while the concept of it seemed manageable in her head, the sight of it now made her want to commit murder with her knives. Her stomach churned horribly and she doubted it had much to do with the alcohol from before.

She didn’t feel good at all and there was no way she could go talk to him right now. Turning around, she retraced her steps through the crowd, knowing just the place to hide while she tried to subdue this awful feeling.

_The upstairs bathroom._

She made a beeline for it. The water in that bathroom didn’t work and so it was labelled ‘Out of Service’. No one went in there and it was the perfect place to hide unless an excited couple had found it first. She prayed as she bounded up the steps that no pesky college couple had found that spot tonight.

She flung open the door to the bathroom, rushing inside and banging it close behind her. Her eyes were shut tight as she threw her head back against the door, trying to erase the image of Zuko and that girl from her mind.

When she opened her eyes a second later, she yelped a little from surprise, realising she wasn’t the only one that was using this bathroom as a hiding spot.

Azula was looking at her with a blank expression from where she sat idly on the stone edge of the unused sinks, playing with a flame in her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon Mai as bisexual, but I didn't want to put it in the tags or anything because it's not important to the story, I just feel like she would be.


	6. Chapter 6

‘What are you doing here?’ Mai asked after the initial shock had passed.

‘I could ask you the same,’ Azula replied, tossing the flame gently between her two palms.

‘Yeah, but I asked you instead,’ Mai drawled, shifting off the door frame and moving to sit on top of the closed lid of the commode, which was akin to a ceramic decoration in this bathroom. She doubted it was even connected to a sewage system.

‘I’m done with the party, let me know when you and Zuzu are ready to leave,’ she heard Azula announce while her face was planted in her palms. She rubbed her eyes with the base of her palms, hoping that when she opened them again, this evening would start to make a little more sense.

‘Did something happen? Did someone find out about you or something?’ Mai groaned.

‘It’s stupid,’ Azula replied softly. Mai looked up at her, blinking away the little dots in front of her eyes as she focused on Azula, perched up on the counter. Now more than before, she was certain something had happened that was making Azula behave so…unlike herself. 

‘What is it?’ she asked again. 

Azula continued to play with the flame as Mai rested her oddly weighty head in her palm, elbows planted on her knees. For a few minutes Azula said nothing and Mai assumed she didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t pressure her, realising she was glad to have someone in here with her while she tried to hide from the reality outside.

Then to her surprise, Azula did start to speak.

‘There’s this really nice guy I met. He’s pretty funny,’ she spoke only a tiny bit louder than the muffled music that seeped through the walls into their hideout. ‘And like really weird too, he embarrassed himself in front of everyone for me, who even does that,’ she snorted. Then smiling longingly at the flame in her palm, she added, ‘but it was sweet.’

Mai listened intently; this was not at all what she had expected would be the premise of Azula’s _situation_.

‘And then he said he would take me to the nicest spot in the parlour, and he took me to the balcony –

‘The balcony _is_ very nice,’ Mai admitted.

‘–and we spoke and we joked and it just felt so good.’ Azula rolled her eyes adding, ‘obviously I lied about my entire life but it was like playing pretend and I loved it. Everything was going so well.’

Mai didn’t realise until she spoke again that she had started to smile, ‘All of this sounds great Azula; where does the part where you run off to hide in this bathroom come in?’

Azula sighed, ‘When he tried to kiss me.’

Mai raised her eyebrows at her, confused. This still didn’t seem to answer her question.

Azula’s face was the perfect deadpan when she looked up from her palm at Mai, ‘I can’t kiss.’

‘What’ Mai asked. Everyone could kiss.

‘Never mind, I told you this is stupid,’ Azula said, extinguishing the flame and placing her hands squarely on either side of her on the stone platform, swinging her legs.

‘You do know how to kiss. I remember you kissed that guy on Ember Island!’

Azula scrunched her face at Mai, ‘That was the only time. Plus, I was like fourteen, I definitely did it wrong.’

‘You’ve…never kissed since?’ Mai asked, lifting her chin off her tabled palms, her eyes going slightly wide.

Azula straightened defensively, looking up at a crack in the vents above Mai’s head, ‘Yeah you see when you’re running around, hiding from state machinery, shifting bases every few days, looking feral while you run forest to forest, the opportunity for romance isn’t exactly lurking around the corner.’ 

Mai sighed. Of course. It made so much sense. She thought of how romance in her own life had been so complicated, but also so important. It was such a beautiful connection to have with someone; it had been so integral in her change.

The idea that Azula had never experienced it…

‘Azula –

‘Just drop it, I don’t actually care – she grumbled.

Mai straightened, standing up from her spot and rolling her eyes playfully. ‘Kissing isn’t hard.’ She walked up to Azula, and placed her hands on either of her shoulders, ‘Here.’

Azula raised a palm in front of her, instinctively moving back. She looked at Mai in bewilderment, ‘What are you doing?’

Mai breathed out loudly in exasperation, ‘Would you rather miss your chance at kissing this wonderful guy or would you rather just get over yourself, practice with me once, and ace it?’

Azula stared blankly, as Mai continued, ‘Because I’m very good,’ she assured, smiling haughtily.

Azula really _really_ did want to kiss him. The feeling of butterflies that had filled her chest when he had leaned into her had never left. But the feeling of panic she had felt when she realised that he was going in for a kiss had been worse. She had stepped back and scrambled over her words telling him she needed to see her brother again and vanished.

He thought she was beautiful and incredible and fun and all these amazing things that no one ever thought about her and she was not going to ruin his impression of her and this memory for herself with a bad, sloppy kiss. For Sozin’s sake, what kind of twenty-year-old didn’t know how to kiss?

But Mai did have a point. Maybe Azula wouldn’t be bad at all. And she could get to have her first proper kiss to last her all her upcoming years in jail.

Azula sighed, wordlessly dropping her palm and rolling her shoulder back, awaiting further instructions from her _sifu_.

Mai smiled, ‘that’s what I thought.’

‘Okay,’ she cleared her throat. ‘First thing– be confident. I think you’ve got that down already so let’s move to the next one. Your hands – keep them on his shoulder, or around his neck, or on his chest, whichever feels right,’ she instructed. ‘The kiss itself? Don’t worry too much about. Just go slow and not too intense since this is your first with him…and just let him guide you since I’m assuming, he’s more experienced.’

‘Okay,’ Azula replied, wiping her palm on her pants. Why was she so nervous? ‘Let’s just do it,’ she said motioning with hands for Mai to hurry up.

‘Relax,’ Mai said and her voice dropped a little bit. She placed a finger under Azula’s chin and tilted her up to her, adjusting the angle of their lips. Mai looked down at her, languidly tilting her own head sideways. Azula could feel her hot breath on her lips. This _should_ have been making her uncomfortable. But it made her want the kiss instead.

Mai was good…at _teaching_. Right, teaching. Azula was mentally taking all the notes.

Then she felt the soft pressure of Mai’s lips against hers. She moved them ever so gently, giving Azula the time to mimicking her moves, and she did. She felt Mai's hands pull her in with a firm hold on the back of her neck and she remembered she too was supposed to use her own, which at the moment were limp by her side. She raised her hands, placing them on the sides of Mai’s face; immediately wondering it that had been too much. Mai assured her by responding with more kisses.

The moment Mai closed her eyes, the alcohol that she had been holding down in her system, started to act up, swirling patterns on the back of her lids. She was drifting, quickly.

She felt hands reach for her face and remembered she was kissing. Whom was she kissing?

She opened her eyes a little and stared right into Zuko’s. _What._ She jerked back in surprise, placing a hand on her chest and taking a moment to breathe as she was teleported back firmly into the present.

‘That was fucking weird,’ she mumbled under her breath, reaching up to rub her temple.

‘Wait, really?’ Azula asked, her eyes wide. She thought she had done decently.

‘No, no, no,’ Mai rushed to correct, ‘You were good Azula. You did well.’ She confirmed. 

Azula still looked unconvinced, Mai’s knee-jerk reaction hadn’t been very encouraging.

Mai sighed, explaining, ‘The weird part was that you are your _brother’s_ …sister.’

‘Oh right,’ Azula almost snickered, wondering what Zuko would think if he knew about this.

‘You should go find that guy,’ Mai said, stepping back, ‘Just remember to keep your eyes closed by the way.’

 _Right,_ Azula nodded. She spoke, more to convince herself, than for Mai’s information, ‘I think I’ll go say bye to him. That would be a nice way to initiate a kiss without being suspicious or desperate, I think.’ Watching Mai step over the broken tiles on her way to the door, she added, ‘Come get me soon though, in like fifteen minutes, whether it goes right or wrong I won’t need longer than that.’

‘Mhm,’ Mai agreed as she stopped before turning the doorknob open. She paused, looking over her shoulder to Azula. Both spoke at once.

‘Zuko can’t know about this’

‘Let’s not tell Zuko.’

They nodded curtly at one another, as Mai exited the bathroom. 

* * *

Mai winced as she entered the party again; the music seemed even more piercing to her ears now. She wasn’t sure exactly when, but at some point between Azula talking about the feeling of meeting a guy that made her feel special, and thinking she had been kissing Zuko just now, she had decided that she was going to cut to the chase and just tell Zuko she loved him. How many times during the last two years had she imagined this day would come? And now that she had her chance, she wasn’t going to let it slip away.

Her confident steps led her down the stairs.

She didn’t know how much time had passed since she had fled the scene, but it was long enough for Zuko to have moved on from that girl. Unless he was no longer playing the game. What if he was genuinely interested in that girl?

Mai stopped as a waiter tried to pass her by, she reached out and picked a mug off his tray. She could use the confidence boost. She took a large swig, feeling the cold-warm liquid go straight from her mouth to her brain. Leaving the mug behind on a random table beside her, she continued on her quest for true love.

She’d always been the one to take initiative with him, this wasn’t any different. She was a go-getter. _You are a go-getter, Mai._ She went and got what she wanted. _You go and get what you want, Mai._

She was the one who had kissed him first, and she was the one who had told him she wanted to be his girlfriend first. She was also the one who said that she “didn’t hate him” first. And now she was going to tell him she loved him still, and wanted him back in her life. She was going to look him in the eye and tell him how much she missed him more with each passing day. How she wanted to write him every day but didn’t want to look desperate. How she would stay up many nights in a row, panicking about whether she had given up on her one true love, the kind to never happen again.

And then she was going to kiss him and he was going to kiss her back and everything would be perfect again. He loves her and she knew that. There was never a point in their lives that they hadn’t loved each other, right? Right.

Mai stumbled as she struggled to stop her long, confident strides in time before she walked right into a girl in front of her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled hurriedly to the girl’s startled expression, stepping aside and making her way to where Zuko had been.

She hadn’t even walked two steps ahead when once again she was stopped.

Zuko was still where she had seen him last. Still with that girl. But this time her hand was on his knee, while he looked to be enjoying every last bit of the attention, she was drowning him in. Mai had never had a stronger urge to shoot her shuriken and pin back someone’s wrist in her entire life.

 _Fuck._ She chewed her lower lip as she felt her stomach drop.

 _Okay no,_ she shook her head. This was fine. This was fine. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath. This was a test. Yes, a test to see how quickly she would back off and she wouldn’t. She had learned from the last time when she had ended things with him. Now she was going to get him back.

He had known this girl for ten minutes; they had known each other their whole lives. 

She strode right up to the pair and stopped awkwardly short of walking into the table. The girl immediately noticed her while Zuko, who faced away, took a moment. She stood there quietly until he turned around to look at her, realising her presence, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

She crossed her hands over her chest, eyebrows pulled into a frown staring off into the distance and refusing to make eye-contact with Zuko, ‘Azu…nula wants us to go get her as soon as possible and leave.’

The girl looked up confused at Mai, and then at Zuko, unsure if this sudden and rude interruption was even meant for them.

Zuko narrowed his eyes at Mai. She was standing stubbornly close to their table and her attitude seemed off from before. He replied softly (and a little unsurely), ‘Umm… okay. Give me two minutes, I’m just going to say bye.’

He had hoped Mai would step aside and give him and his _new friend_ some space, but she stood right where she was, chin up as she continued to stare beyond. Awkwardly, Zuko turned back.

‘Will I see you again? Can you drop that friend of yours and come back?’ she asked, scanning his face.

‘I don’t think so,’ he replied apologetically. He took her hand in his. ‘I had a great time with you –

‘Hurry up please,’ Mai announced impatiently over the two of them.

Zuko sighed, slumping his shoulders and turning around slowly to face Mai again. Before he could say anything, he heard the girl’s frustrated voice from behind him.

‘Who _is_ this?’

Mai looked down at them for the first time, ‘Who am _I_? I’ll tell you who I –

‘Mai!’ Zuko whispered urgently, standing up and effectively blocking eye-contact between the two, ‘Take it easy, okay? I’m coming with you, just give me one second,’ he said, turning her around such that she faced away from the table. Mai huffed; hands still tightly folded across her chest.

She heard him speaking to the girl again, making excuses on her behalf, ‘Please ignore her she’s my sister’s friend and I think she’s a little drunk.’

You don’t want a scene. You don’t want a scene. You don’t want a scene. Mai tapped her foot, reminding herself to stay grounded. What if she wanted a scene? Y _ou don’t want a scene._

As she continued to hum to herself, she felt Zuko’s shoulder brush past her, as he walked ahead, having said his “Goodbye”. He called curtly back to her, ‘Come.’

Mai turned around and gave one last dirty look to the girl, who stared daggers right back at her. 

She rushed to follow Zuko, who was swiftly making his way over to the staircase. Mai noticed the 'Maintenance Room' at the base of the stairs. This was her chance; she may never gather the courage to say the words again.

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind him.

He blinked as he found himself in the dimly lit room that smelled like cleaning liquid, startled at the sudden change in their trajectory, ‘What – he voiced confused. 

‘Do you like that girl?’ Mai asked, standing in front of him, but staring right at the nub on the wall behind his head, her hands still crossed over her chest. Feet tapping nervously. 

‘Who? Dee?’ Zuko asked, still confused about what was going on. Where was Azula?

She couldn’t help responding through gritted teeth, ‘I didn’t ask for her name. I asked if you liked her.’

‘Why…are you being like this?’ Zuko narrowed his eyes at her. Was she jealous? Was this because she was drunk? He had noticed her sway gently when she stood towering over them earlier, and now as she spun her head to look at him, he could see her pupils looked glazed, ‘ _You_ said we should play this game. I thought the point of it was to find someone nice at the party…

No. No. No. This was all wrong. This was not how this was supposed to go. Why were they talking about the girl?

She was supposed to pull him into the closet and confess her love. Confess that he was the only person that occupied constant space in her mind. Too much space. Confess that no one she had tried to be with had made her feel the way just even being beside him did. Confess that being apart from him had made her realise just how much she loved him. Confess that she missed him and wanted him.

‘…you definitely should not have threatened her either way – Zuko was still talking.

_Confess your love. Do it now._

‘Why did you say…say to her that I was just your sister’s drunk friend?’ she frowned at him, slurring a little.

Wrong words. WRONG WORDS.

None of what Mai was saying was helping clear any of his confusion. His brows were knitted as he raised his shoulders limply, ‘Which of those things are you not?’

Mai swayed quietly on the spot her hands falling to her side. She was both. But she was more. Was she not?

Zuko ran his hand through his hair, sighing a little out of frustration, ‘…Mai I’m not good at these passive-aggressive hints and clues, just tell me what this is about, I…’

She would. And after she confessed her love, he would too. He would tell her that the reason he hadn’t had a girlfriend in two years was because he still loved her. He missed her too and wanted her back. Then she would kiss him. She would fling her arms around his neck and kiss him deeply. It would send waves of happiness through her body to have him hold her again, just like she always imagined it would. He would fall in love with her completely as their tongues would entwine, remembering what he missed out on for two years. Their hands would be tangled in each other’s hair...

‘Mai, are you listening?’ she zoned in to see Zuko searching her face. She was suddenly aware of his touch as he held her by her shoulders. Why were they apart? She wanted him to hold all of her. She took a small, almost non-existent step towards him. They were already so close; she could kiss him.

But she hadn’t even told him she loved him yet. 

His deep golden eyes flicked across hers and it made her stupid little heart pound hard in her chest.

 _Screw it,_ she thought. _Skip to the good part._

She leaned up, pressing her palms against his chest as she pushed him gently against the wall. She placed her lips on his, well almost on his lips. She missed a little. His hands rose up in surprise, gingerly placed on her upper arms. Not around her like she had expected. His eyes flew open instead of closing shut. It didn’t overpower her senses like she had hoped. None of that sweeping her off her feet was taking place either. It was barely even a kiss.

This was…bad.

She pulled away, realising what she had done. She looked at him with eyes wide in shock as he stared back in astonishment. She averted her gaze to the floor, squeezing her eyes shut. ‘I’m so sorry…I shouldn’t have –

Holy Shu, did he not love her? Was that a possibility that even existed? How had she read everything so wrong?

She had just made an absolute fool of herself.

In an instant, she was completely sobered. Now more than ever when she needed the alcohol, it simply evaporated, leaving all her senses fully aware in this morbid embarrassment. Now she remembered why she wasn’t the impulsive one, remembered why she liked to think over her actions a million times before she did them.

Her hand reached up and tightened around her elbow in front of her. She had always wanted to be a Firebender but in this moment if the Lionturtles asked her to wish for a Bending skill she would ask, _beg_ , for Earthbending so that she could have the ground swallow her whole.

Before she could brave looking at Zuko’s face and apologise properly, she suddenly felt his arm wrap tightly around her waist, and in one swift motion he had pulled her onto himself, planting his lips firmly onto hers.

To her complete and most delightful shock, they were kissing. Actually, really, truly, kissing. Like their lives depended on it. Her fingers plunged into his hair as his hands snaked themselves over her back pulling her in possessively. She could taste the mead on his lips, or maybe it was from her own. The scruff on his face was rough against her skin, a new sensation that she didn’t mind in the slightest. She breathed in heavily through the gaps in their kiss, inhaling his signature muskiness combined with the intoxicating smell that was just…him. Her favourite scent in the whole world. This is why people said kissing was like melting. She was melting. She held tightly on to him; her anchor in a world that seemed to be spinning around her. This. This. _This_ was what it was supposed to feel like. For two years she had chased this feeling and yet, all along she knew this was the only place she could find it. His heavy breathing was almost too much for her to take. She didn’t want him to stop, ever.

Then, unfortunately, a spark went off in her head and she remembered why they were here.

She gasped, breaking their kiss, ‘Azula.’

‘What. Where,’ Zuko looked around alarmed. The door was still shut behind them.

‘No, I mean, we actually…do need to go get her,’ Mai winced, pressing her hand to her head that spun from the sudden movement.

‘Oh,’ Zuko looked flustered, breathing hard as he wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve. He stood up straight from where he was leaning against the wall, supporting himself on an unused drinks trolley. ‘Let’s go.’

He took her hand as he led them out of the room, back into the noisy bar. Once again, the music seemed too loud but this time Mai was thankful for it. It kept her from having to speak to Zuko just yet. She looked at the back of his head bobbing over the sea of people looking for Azula.

She felt heady again. And not the alcohol heady, the kind of heady she could get when Zuko kissed her. It had been so long that she had forgotten how floaty and good it felt. She was aware of how stupid she probably looked blushing and smiling shyly at the back of his head basking in the afterglow of a two-year late kiss, in a bar full of people who wouldn't hesitate doing far more than just kissing in a maintenance room with even a stranger.

Zuko moved swiftly through the crowd, trusting his limbs to lead him to Azula while his brain still reeled from all that had just happened. He was happy. But confused. What did that kiss mean? Did Mai still like him? Did she want him back? He shook his head, looking over the many heads to catch a glimpse of his sister. He needed to stay put in the present without getting too ahead of himself. What if she only saw this as a no-risk arrangement? They were both single, and tomorrow he would be gone and it would leave no space for attachment. Except that the attachment already existed.

He shuddered as the thought crossed his brain. It wasn’t possible, Mai was not like that. Their relationship had never felt superficial. It was the strongest bond he had ever had with anyone, and not just romantically.

It _had_ been two years though, what if she had changed?

He saw Azula up ahead, talking to a guy. He looked like the same guy Zuko had seen her talking to earlier as well. He narrowed his eyes, noting that it seemed like they were holding hands while Azula looked up at him, smiling in a way that was rare for her, out of pure happiness. Was this someone she knew?

He beckoned her from afar (Anula!). She looked at him and then turned back to the guy in front of her, reaching on her toes to whisper something to him. Then they kissed goodbye.

Zuko couldn’t help his eyebrows shooting up in surprise, turning to his side to look at Mai, expecting her to be reflecting his expressions. But instead, Mai watched with a small smile on her lips.

Without turning to him she said, ‘I made that happen.’ A proud smile on her lips. 

He bobbed his head, impressed. Quietly accepting the events in front of him as Azula walked over to them, realising there was no way he could ask for a simple explanation of exactly what had transpired in his absence. Wordless he led the two girls, walking ahead of them.

Mai tapped Azula’s shoulder with her own, smiling coyly at her. Azula rolled her eyes, trying her best yet failing to hide the small smile that played on her lips.

‘His name is Kaji,’ she said simply, letting Mai loop her hand through her elbow. She seemed to have gotten drunker since they had met in the bathroom last.

‘Cute!’ Mai replied. 

Zuko decided there was nothing more for them to do than leave the place. It seemed to have gotten even more crowded from the time they came in. He could see the big wooden doors that led to the outside, the area around them unexpectedly empty, owing to the significant gathering of people in the central dancing spot.

He heard Mai yell behind him, ‘WAIT! You guys!’ She pointed to the gathering, ‘IT’S THE DRAGON!’

Sure enough, a large mechanical, painted dragon descended from thin air (or a carefully engineered trapdoor in the roof) into a crowd that went mad with cheers. The dragon’s mouth even opened and a small flame ejected from it. It was quite a sight.

‘We _have_ to see this Zuko!’ Azula announced.

‘Guys – Zuko began to protest just when the music started. The different metallic parts of the dragon sewn together began to shift in a ‘dance’. Zuko paused, he recognised this song.

‘Zuko!’ Azula shouted, her eyes wide, ‘It’s the Horned Dragon dance!’

It was. The Horned Dragon was one of the few dances that all Firebenders were taught in the Academy. Fire Bending was a graceful art and many of its moves were taught in the form of dances before young Benders were even taught to handle fire. While fighters like Zuko and Azula chose to focus on only the combat aspect of it as they grew older, many Benders chose to focus on the art of expression through Bending, create and master dances, and provide entertainment for the masses. Unfortunately, during Sozin’s reign, the artistic aspect of Bending had been shunned for training more and more Benders for combat. Now, as the new Fire Lord, Zuko hoped to bring back the traditional Fire Bending dances.

Seeing this dance from their childhood now hit him with a wave of nostalgia.

‘The Horned Dragon,’ he smiled, following Mai and Azula over to the ancient creature brought to life in technology.

He watched as the two girls pulled him through the crowd and wasted no time joining the people that danced around the groovy, steeled, dragon. He preferred to maintain his distance. He could have his fill just watching arguably the two women in his life that he constantly worried about, laughing and dancing and _safe_.

Mai disagreed, she pulled him in by his wrist, and while he wasn’t the biggest fan of dancing in public, he couldn’t resist her while she seemed to be having this much fun. She threw her arm around his waist and he pulled her close by her shoulders.

They knew to coordinate their movements. They often danced together when they were having a night in at Mai’s home or at the palace, and were able to arrange a live band. It wasn’t often, but those were always the best evenings. Despite all the confusion in his head about Mai and their kiss from before, when she giggled giddily up at him, he couldn’t help dip his head as he rested his forehead on hers, beaming from ear to ear.

The crowd cheered again, and he looked up to see if the dragon had performed a new move.

He was caught completely off-guard when he realised it was in fact Azula for whom the crowd was cheering. Ever the performer, she had completely given in to the Horned Dragon, her every move in perfect sync with the metallic dragon behind her.

Zuko knew the steps too. He left Mai’s side and joined Azula, front and center. This was now a matter of family integrity.

Every step, every flair, every wave that the siblings did was perfectly synced up with those of the mechanical giant and each other. The crowd went wild, having never seen anything like it. They moved effortlessly through the short routine and as it came to an end, Azula looked at him and smiled, and he knew what to do.

She jumped off the ground, spinning in the air over him as he ducked in time. She landed on his other side and they finished with a loud ‘Ha!’ as the dragon spat one last bout of fire.

Instead of the thunderous applause that he knew was coming, Zuko heard loud gasps. He spun around to see what had happened, looking at Azula who stood rooted to her spot. And then it dawned on him.

The final step typically had the dancers shoot fire from their hand and while Zuko had remembered to withhold himself, Azula had gotten absorbed into the routine and shot fire from her palm. Technically, it wasn’t the most worrying thing for a Firebender to shoot fire, but Azula’s fire was…famously blue.

Deciding that he didn’t want them to stick around for even a second longer, he grabbed her hand and then Mai’s, pulling them behind him as he rushed out of the doors of the Dragon’s Den.

On their way out, Mai made fleeting eye contact with Chen, who stood with his friend whispering as he narrowed his eyes at Zuko, Azula, and herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did the idea for this entire fic come when I was watching Zuko and Aang do The Dancing Dragon and wondered how good Zuko and Azula would look doing something like that instead? Maybe.


	7. Chapter 7

They tumbled into the empty streets outside the establishment; the sudden quiet of the night more unsettling than the cold.

Mai and Azula walked ahead seemingly carefree; their steps echoing loudly on the gravelly road, while Zuko couldn’t help his shifty gaze scanning the doors of the bar, wondering if anyone had sensed something out of the ordinary.

‘What if they figure out who we are?’ he asked still gazing back at the entrance, his feet following the road down to Mai’s house. He couldn’t look away; thinking the doors would fly open any moment and a mob would charge at them.

‘Zuko, it wasn’t such a big deal, people do have blue fire,’ Mai responded, tugging on his sleeve. 

‘What if someone informs local authorities or someone –

‘Even if someone _did_ suspect something, we’ll be out of here in the next few hours. So, relax,’ Azula replied.

Perhaps it was the effect of being suddenly deprived of the loudness of the bar, but Zuko felt like their steps were oddly loud as they trudged down the quiet neighbourhood; houses with their lights put out for the night lined the narrow road they were on.

Azula was right, they would be on their way back first thing at sunrise. Back to the Fire Nation. Back to the same, old, uninspired routine. Back to the empty halls of the Palace. Back to the sad, cold bed that never managed to give him a satisfactory night’s sleep.

It was crazy to think that at this same time, last night, he had still been in the Fire Nation. So much had happened since, that he felt his Fire Lord existence was a distant memory. It felt good.

‘Hold on!’ Mai said, stopping dead in her tracks. Just when Zuko had allowed himself to relax, his heart rate spiked again, he looked around anxiously.

Mai stepped over to lean on the side of the road and with a loud hock, spat into the side gutter. ‘Sorry that was just bothering me,’ she said straightening up.

Zuko’s shoulders dropped as he breathed out and Azula scrunched her face in disgust.

‘Gosh, Mai!’ she said shuddering, ‘You’ve really gone full colony trash, haven’t you?’

‘What was that again, Ms. Terrorist?’ Mai asked, raising her brows at her, focusing on putting each step in front of the last, trying to not sway too much to either side. Her head was spinning less, but it still felt heavy on her neck.

‘Have you forgotten that out of the three people here with devious pasts, the only one that has been to jail, is you?’ Azula raised her eyebrows, ‘Oh wait, I almost forgot _why_ you went to jail! How’s that working out?' She asked, giving Mai and Zuko a pointed look. Her tone was more acidic than she had intended.

‘Azula, stop,’ Zuko said, looking at her over Mai’s head. She rolled her eyes focusing on the street lamp ahead whose flames guided their way.

Mai didn’t seem to mind very much as replied in a dramatically lamenting tone, ‘So this is how you say thanks huh, Azula?’

She huffed. To be honest, the best thing that had happened to her in a long time _was_ because of Mai, maybe she could cut her some slack.

Mai looked up at the sky wistfully, ‘I wish Ty Lee was here, this would be like old times.’

 _Old times._ _What wonderful old times._ Azula scoffed.

Suddenly Mai perked, ‘We had fun tonight right?’

That’s all she had wanted. For Azula to have a memorable night before she turned herself in. For Zuko to remember he was a young man who deserved to have fun. ‘Right?’ she asked again, turning to look at Zuko.

‘Right.’ He agreed, nodding.

Then she turned to Azula questioningly, who was still carrying a slight scowl.

‘Right.’ She responded softly.

Mai smiled gleefully, throwing her arms around both Zuko and Azula’s necks and pulling them towards her. Zuko winced and Azula hissed as they found themselves in a surprisingly tight chokehold. ‘I'm not lying this was the most fun I’ve ever had in Lao Fu. I’ve never actually danced and laughed and shouted like that.’

Zuko looked at Mai sideways as she continued to drag them along with her. She could get chattier and touchy-feelier than usual when she was tipsy, but this was more. This felt far deeper than just some alcohol-fuelled confession.

‘I wish we could stay longer,’ he said. He really did wish that. He wished he could leave everything behind and move here. Or to the south pole. Or to the middle of the desert. Or to any place where he didn’t have to make decisions that affected the lives of thousands of people daily. Any place where he could be around Mai again. 

‘I know,’ Mai said quietly, releasing the two of them as her hands dropped to her side. She pushed the locks of her hair that were starting to stick to her arm in the humidity, thinking about how her home would be empty once again tomorrow. ‘I met people my age here who would tell me about all the things they did as children, and all the fun they had with their friends, and how even now when they went back to their hometowns, they would greet their childhood friends like nothing had changed and I never have anything to say back. I just…want those good things for us too. All of us.’

Azula turned a little to look at Mai. This whole time, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that Mai had some kind of vested interest in looking after her. Something she wanted to find out from her. Maybe get closer to Zuko by pretending she cared for Azula. But throughout the evening, she had been confused, when at every point that Mai could have given herself away, she had seemed genuine instead.

‘Ugh! Please no, I don’t want to get all sappy,’ Mai whined. ‘Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!’ she chanted. 

All this childhood-talk suddenly reminded Azula of an episode. She spoke with newfound excitement, ‘Mai, remember in Ba Sing Se this one girl had a crush on Zuko?’

Mai’s eyes widened in glee as she turned to Azula, ‘Yesssss!’

‘What was her name? Jan?’ Azula asked urgently.

Zuko sighed, hands stuffed into his pockets, ‘It was Ji –

‘June! It was definitely June!’ Mai exclaimed with confidence.

‘Yes, June!’ Azula agreed, snorting.

Zuko tried to interject again, ‘ _No._ June was the –

‘Wasn’t she a fish seller?’ Azula cut him off, unable to hold back her snicker.

‘No,’ Mai said, grabbing Azula’s wrist in excitement, ‘She was a circus juggler!’

‘Why did you have to go to Ba Sing Se to find a circus girl Zuko, we had one at home,’ Azula called jokingly to him over Mai’s head.

Both girls’ hands flew to cover their mouths as they tried to hold in their laughs.

‘She wasn’t a circus girl,’ Zuko exhaled, ‘ _I_ was the circus guy –

‘No, no, no,’ Mai interrupted, trying to speak through her silent chuckles, ‘I’ll tell you who you were.’ She took in a deep breath. ‘LEE!’ she yelled, cackling.

Azula burst into laughter, pointing at Zuko, ‘LEE!’

Zuko spun around looking at the quiet houses with their sleeping residents, shushing Mai and Azula’s loud, undomesticated laughter, hoping it wouldn’t wake anyone up. They could do without the added attention on themselves. But as Mai doubled over in laughter, and Azula supported her convulsing self on Mai’s shoulder, laughing uncontrollably, Zuko couldn’t help crack a smile as he shook his head at them both.

‘Juggling – Azula pointed a shaky finger at Zuko, unable to finish her sentence as she collapsed into laughter that snatched her ability to speak.

‘Yeah, I gifted her a teashop coupon too,’ he offered defeatedly, trying to hurry up the process. The girls squealed at his admission; their howls descending into the silent realm of laughter.

‘Come on,’ he laughed a little, tugging Mai’s hand and making sure they kept walking. The sooner they got to the confines of Mai’s home, the better. 

Their laughs quietened down as Zuko felt the cold breeze on his face. It was not as cold as it could get in the Fire Nation at night, there was still that mustiness that was Lao Fu’s air. He didn’t know why but he suddenly felt the need to voice the thought that had plagued him from the moment Mai had told them she wanted to take them outside, making use of their anonymity in this part of the world.

‘You guys ever wonder what it would be like if he had normal families and lived normal, happy, lives?’

They walked in silence, neither wanting to answer his question. Of course, Azula had thought about it before, and she really did not want to think about it now.

‘Shut up Zuko, she said happy thoughts,’ Azula replied quietly after a few moments passed. 

‘Yeah,’ Mai agreed, not thinking as she leaned her head on Azula’s shoulder. Her feet were starting to hurt and she felt like they had been walking for far longer than was necessary to reach her home. She smiled as another memory made its way to the front of her thoughts.

‘Do you guys remember that weekend that we all went to Niko’s house for a party when her parents weren’t home? We were what twelve? Thirteen?’ she drawled.

‘Yeah’ Zuko recalled. It was the last time he had seen all his friends before…he had to leave the Fire Nation.

‘And Ty Lee had accidentally dropped a china plate while showing off her handstand and Niko, the bitch, said she couldn’t stay anymore unless she kissed someone at the party in front of everyone. And poor Ty Lee was almost about to burst into tears until I let her kiss me?’ Mai giggled.

‘Mai…’ Azula warned softly, not sure where this story was heading.

‘That was incredible actually,’ Zuko sniggered, ‘don’t think I’ll ever forget everyone cheering while Niko looked on horrified as her life-long dream of embarrassing Ty Lee went down the drain.’

Mai continued to giggle on Azula’s shoulder, looking up to whisper in her ear. Only it was loud enough that Zuko and the ostrichhorses from three houses down could hear it, ‘I have the whole set now!’ she snickered.

‘Shut up’ Azula hushed through gritted teeth.

‘Whole set?’ Zuko frowned.

‘Oh, look it’s the swamp hut!’ Azula announced.

‘Set of what?’ he asked once more.

'Swamp hut’s here!’ she announced adamantly again, walking up to the front door.

‘UGHHH’ Mai groaned loudly, sitting with a thump onto the stairs, remembering her jammed door and the effort she absolutely could not put into it right now. ‘Guys I swear. I’m really not lying. The spirit of Agni just spoke to me, and she wanted me to tell you that she wants Azula to open that door.’

‘Why should I open your dumb door, it’s your house,’ Azula frowned, folding her arms across her chest.

‘Consider it your payment for me teaching –

‘Okay fine! I’ll do it,’ Azula roared.

‘It’s a little complicated you’ll have to figure it out,’ Mai called, sneering at Azula’s back as she pressed herself against the door frame.

She turned to look up at Zuko, finding him already staring at her. He blinked as she caught him. She pointed to the stickers on the back of her hand, ‘I won by the way.’

‘I didn’t really lose though,’ he couldn’t help but grin as he reminded her, reaching out his hand for her to take as Azula managed to power through the door. 

* * *

Mai walked into the kitchen to get herself some water, letting Zuko help Azula with setting up her bed.

The siblings walked in silence down to the basement. Azula’s makeshift bedding supplies were all rolled up into a large mattress on the floor of her ‘room’. She walked over to where her chains lay on the ground, picking them up and handing them to Zuko.

He sighed, speaking before he could give himself the time to reconsider his decision, ‘You don’t have to put them on.’

‘Thanks’ she shrugged, letting them fall to the ground with a clunk.

The two began unrolling the mattress, taking charge of each end respectively.

Zuko spoke as they laid down the corners of the heavy bed, ‘It’s still your birthday… so you can ask for a gift.’

‘I want –

‘Not a sentence reduction,’ he interjected.

She shrugged dismissively, ‘You got me.’ 

They fixed the sheets around the corners of the mattress quietly, before he heard Azula speak up again. ‘Don’t hate me.’

He jerked his head up to look at her, stopping in dead surprise at her words. She sighed dramatically at his reaction, not making eye contact and fiercely tucking her side of the sheet in, ‘I’m asking for no other reason than the fact that I’d like to have just one person who doesn’t _completely_ hate me.’

‘Azula, I don’t hate you.’

‘Keep fixing the sheets liar,’ she replied.

‘I really don’t,’ he said, grabbing his end of the cotton sheet again.

‘Well, I did,’ Azula said, ‘I used to think my peak hatred for you was when you challenged me to an Agni Kai for the throne, but it was actually when you took my friends away from me, _after_ taking mom.’

‘They are my friends too,’ Zuko said. 

‘Okay,’ Azula scoffed quietly, running her hands over the newly fitted sheets, brushing off any dust on them.

‘Would you pick me over Mai?’ Immediately she wished she hadn’t asked. Why had she said that? The answer meant nothing to her. She didn’t even care to know.

‘I could never choose like that,’ Zuko replied softly, watching Azula smoothen the creases on the sheets while he absentmindedly fluffed the pillow. 

‘She did,’ Azula shrugged. 

‘Mom and Mai both left me too, so does that make us even?’ he asked. 

Azula looked up at him for the first time, sitting on the edge of her floor mattress, ‘Even? We’ll never be even. I’m a prodigy, a genius if you will. I am also unbelievably beautiful and smart and could basically replace the army general by the time I was fourteen.’ She picked her shoes off her feet and threw them across the floor, ‘And yet _you_ , the impulsive fool of a prince, got the crown and all the love.’ There was an unmissable bitterness in her voice that Zuko could tell she was trying to hold back, ‘I truly wonder where I went wrong sometimes. I did everything he told me I should do, and yet even he turned out to not love me.’ She scoffed, ‘Don’t get me wrong I’m definitely more upset about the crown, I don’t _need_ the love.’

‘Everyone needs love, Azula,’ Zuko responded, moving to sit cross-legged on the mattress beside her.

‘Okay Uncle Iroh,’ she rolled her eyes in sarcasm. 

‘I know we haven’t exactly grown up in the most loving environment or the nicest family but trust me once you experience it the first time, you realise how much you were missing out on –

‘Does that really matter to you so much? Family?’ She asked offhandedly. She held her wrist, circling her arms around her mounted knees.

‘Does it not matter to you at all?’ he countered.

She yawned as she rested her head on her arm, facing away from Zuko, thinking about his question for a moment. It didn’t. But _why._

‘I know I was happy about you being banished but I never imagined it would be like that. One day everything was fine, then the very next – no more bother, no more mother, no more uncle, no more grandfather. Just me in that big empty castle with him,’ she said quietly. ‘The thing about being dad’s favourite is that he still doesn’t really care for his favourite. I was mostly just on my own and sometimes I was kind of scared. I thought he might send me away too. So, I guess I learned pretty early to be without family.’

‘I didn’t mind it,’ she added.

Zuko wanted to reach out and place a hand on her head. Brush her hair with his palm like he had never done. Comfort his little sister like he knew older brothers were supposed to.

Yes, she was more confident even as a child than any man or woman he had ever met, but her words made him realise it didn’t change the fact that she had still only been a child. ‘Do you blame me for…how things turned out?’

She replied clearly, ‘I don’t blame anyone for anything that went wrong in my life. Except for mother.’

‘Azula –

She raised her head staunchly, ‘No that is not up for debate. You can’t change my mind about that.’

Zuko sighed. He would have to figure out a way to bridge this gap between mom and Azula.

‘You know why dad chose me and not you? Besides the whole ‘me being a genius’ thing?’ she asked curiously.

Zuko chortled, ‘I have tried to figure it out my whole life and you’re telling me you know the answer?’

‘Because mom picked you first,’ she replied.

His smile faltered. It was not the answer Zuko was expecting, but he knew it was something that would keep him awake for many nights. Their father had picked Azula as his golden child the moment she was born. So, he knew it wasn’t because she was smarter or a better bender though it might appear that way. As a young boy, he had often cried in his room, wondering _why her? why not me?_

He fell back onto the mattress laying his back flat against it, palms tucked under his head. Moments passed in silence, the only sounds coming from a loud cricket, somewhere in the gallery outside and their own slow breaths.

‘Would you have killed me in our Agni Kai?’ Zuko asked, staring up at the large crack in the ceiling above them.

More silence. More crickets. More breathing.

‘Yeah,’ she responded.

Zuko chuckled sadly. Azula always lied, but when she didn’t, she was brutally honest.

‘I will say something if you promise to never bring it up again,’ he heard her say.

‘Promise’ he replied.

‘I’m sorry’

‘Wow,’ his eyes widened at the deep crack directly on top of him. He couldn’t believe his ears. He couldn’t believe Azula had just apologised. For what, he didn’t know. But he doubted she would ever say the words again so he chose to apply it generously to everything she had ever done that warranted an apology.

‘Apology accepted I guess,’ he responded.

She grunted loudly in frustration, ‘I hate that you accepted it just like that!’ She turned around to look at him as he raised himself on his elbows on either side, meeting her incensed gaze, ‘I hate it! How do you not want to get back at me? I just admitted I would have killed you!’

‘Who said I didn’t want to get back?’ he said, sitting up fully beside her as she watched him with a frown, mouth slightly ajar in exasperation. With a heated finger he flicked Azula on the forehead.

‘Ouch!’ she hissed in surprised, slapping her palm to her forehead and rubbing the spot he had attacked. He chuckled, knowing that would leave a nice red mark on her for at least a day. “Giving a Third Eye” is what they would call it as kids, and Azula used to be far too liberal with it. Would drive him up the wall.

‘Now we’re even,’ he announced, standing up to leave.

Azula scowled at his back as he stopped by the door, looking over his shoulder, ‘It was nice seeing you have fun today. Your _man friend_ seemed to really have your attention.’

She instantly dropped the scowl, ‘Oh, that reminds me, I really do have a birthday gift to ask of you,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘That guy’s name is Kaji and his family is originally from the Fire Nation. He told me his uncle runs a vegetable shop somewhere in the Capital,’ she paused for effect, eyes widening with a mischievous smile, ‘ _With_ _an expired permit._ ’

‘So?’ Zuko shrugged.

‘So, can you arrest Kaji for abetting illegal activities and throw him into jail with me? I really feel like I have a shot with him.’

He stared blankly at her for a second, until neither could hold in their snickers.

He shook his head as Azula shrugged, clearing her throat, 'I told you I’m funnier.’ 

‘You’re just as bad as me,’ Zuko replied, stepping out of the room. 

He heard Azula call after him as he pulled the door shut, ‘I wasn’t completely joking, you know?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really love these siblings, you know


	8. Chapter 8

Mai felt the relaxing stretch in her tired calves as she sat sprawled on the tall kitchen chairs. An apple lay unevenly chopped up on the plate in front of her, her shuriken (that she had favoured over looking for a kitchen knife) still wedged into the flesh of the fruit. 

She was thankful for apples. Often, she would forget to eat, swamped with all her work, or would come home tired and unable to cook for herself. It was times like these she missed the ease and comfort of her home in the Fire Nation. You couldn’t raise a girl around servants that were willing to fulfill her every bidding and then expect her to actually enjoy cooking for herself. Besides, there was rarely any motivation to actually put effort into her dishes. There was no one to try out her experiments, no one to criticise her burnt meat, no one to gush over her three-ingredient chicken soup. And so, the easily available, quickly prepared, and delicious apples had taken a comfort spot in her routine. 

She realised as she looked around her dim living room, that she had turned almost completely sober by now. She was really hoping to not recover so soon. Maybe she could run away to her room now and wouldn’t have to face Zuko and apologise like she knew she should. 

It just felt wrong. Her not saying anything, never letting him know she felt things for him even now, and just kissing him instead. 

But he had kissed her back too, that meant something right? 

Zuko stepped soundlessly over the stairs, entering the hall again. He paused beyond the shoji screen when he saw Mai laze on the chair. She seemed so peaceful, munching absentmindedly and staring into space. 

She looked stunning. 

He sighed at himself, how predictable. Finding the girl that had left him two years ago still breathtakingly beautiful in a moment that even she might have called herself a mess. 

She was limp over the side of the chair, leg lazily swinging, back slouched in a way that would have made her mother wince. Her berry lips glistened from the touch of the juicy apple. Berry lips that had been so delightfully smashed against his only an hour or so ago. 

Holding Mai like that again had been so unexpected. Unexpected and heavenly. He didn’t think he would ever get to do that again. So had that been the last time? He might have done everything in his power to extend it for even a second longer had he known. These were the same thoughts that plagued him when Mai had said goodbye all those months ago. 

Truth was, she didn’t need him…like he needed her. She had only been drunk, and happy for his familiar company. Countless men and women were ready to fulfill all of her whims and fancies. She didn’t need him. 

But if she said she did, he would believe her and give in. He shouldn’t, for his own good he knew he shouldn’t. But he couldn’t deny her. Not when he was not even an ounce bit over their relationship. Maybe all those letters meant nothing to her, but they kept him from moving on and he gladly stayed behind. He could live a lie for a night if it meant he could hold her again. 

He strode into the kitchen as Mai, noticing him, made some effort to straighten up.

‘You’re alright?’ he asked. 

She nodded, pointing at her empty plate, ‘food helped.’ 

She jumped to her feet, stumbling only because she had forgotten she was still wearing her heels. Zuko reflexively reached out from where he stood, ‘You…want me to help you to your room?’ 

‘I’m okay,’ she responded, stepping carefully over to the stairs. Zuko quietly followed, making his way to his own guestroom upstairs. 

The tension between them could be cut with a blade; even a rusty, blunt one would do. She knew she should be the one to address everything, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to. 

She worked on her courage as they ascended the stairs, giving herself the ultimatum of speaking as soon as they reached the floor. It came. They stood in the small landing space between her room and the guestroom, and Zuko turned around to her, ‘Goodnight then, I’ll wake you up before we leave – 

‘I’m sorry Zuko…about earlier at the party,’ she blurted, looking at his chin. It was as far up as she could look. 

‘Why are you sorry?’ she heard him reply calmly. 

‘I just, couldn’t help myself…I saw you with that girl and I was drunk…’ 

‘So, it was only the drink?’ he asked impassively. 

No, it wasn’t. 

‘Does it matter?’ she asked, reaching for a lock of hair cascading down her front. 

She looked up in surprise as she heard Zuko groan loudly, running his hand through his hair in frustration, ‘Mai, it’s just not fair!’ 

She stared up at him. 

‘You left. And that was fine. I mean, it wasn’t, but I tried to be okay with it. And the minute I think that it’s finally time for me to give up on us and just move on, you pull me aside and kiss me?’ he asked, his voice soft but raw with emotions, ‘Maybe you’re at a point where you’re secure in us being broken up but I’m not. I love that you’re happy and I don’t want to take that away, but even us just kissing can’t be casual for me. It never was and it never will be, I’m still very attached to you, and if we – 

‘What. What does that mean?’ she cut him off. Casual? Casual? 

‘It means that we’re adults and I understand,’ he replied a little unsurely. 

She narrowed her eyes at him as realisation dawned, ‘You think I see you as just some…some guy to take to bed? You think I – 

He sighed. He didn’t want to think that and he fought his own mind every time it tried to tell him that since they had kissed in that darned maintenance room, but there couldn’t be any doubts about this. His heart couldn’t take it. ‘I’m asking. Do you?’ 

He never saw Mai’s lightning reflexes coming at him until he felt her balled fist, punching him square in the gut, leaving him gasping for air. It wasn’t painful, but it was artfully shocking.

‘Why would you ask that? Why would you think like that?’ she demanded, her chest heaving, ‘I feel very real things about you!’ she said hysterically. ‘I – I still like you! In the long-term kind of way…’ she stuttered. 

‘Like me in the long-term way? What does that mean?’ he rasped with effort, straightening up from when he had doubled over. 

They were both so horrible at this. 

Her eyebrows were knitted in exasperation; fists still clenched beside her. Between the two of them, she had never been the one who was good at expressing through words. Why was she being made to do this? 

Why couldn’t he tell that she loved him? 

‘It means…I like you in the I-don’t-hate-you kind of way,’ she managed to stammer, her cheeks immediately flaming up at the admission. 

‘Then why’d you leave?’ he shook his head at her. 

‘You never came after!’ she defended angrily. 

‘You disappeared!’ he roared. 

She had. Every bone in his body had wanted to go after her but she had made it amply clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. It wasn’t a normal breakup; it hadn’t even taken her a day to pack up her life and move away without ever informing him. To think her breaking up with him hadn’t been impulsive but something she had been planning for a while completely shattered his heart and ground the remaining pieces to dust until there was nothing left to salvage. She had thought about it and decided she was done. He didn’t want to be the asshole that kept trying to win her back after she had ended things with him with such finality. 

‘And I had my reasons,’ she replied softly, closing her eyes, ‘I’m sorry I ran away. And I’m sorry I took so long to…say something, I just didn’t know if you’d want me to reach out or if you’d moved on. I’m sorry that I tried to kiss you without saying anything – 

Zuko couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice, thinking about all the men and women that Mai had been with, all the people that got to enjoy her company while despite being the Fire Lord, the most eligible bachelor in all of Fire Nation, he yearned for her alone, ‘You should be sorry for flirting with other people all evening, then pulling me into a backroom and kissing me.’ 

Before she could stop herself, Mai blurted, ‘And aren’t you sorry for courting that Lo Shuang, not even two months after we broke up?’ 

He looked at her, eyes widening at her knowledge of the grandest proposal he had received for marriage from outside the Fire Nation. ‘It was a proposal for marriage to the Fire Lord,’ he explained in irritation. 

She knew about the proposal but she was blissfully unaware of how Zuko had not even looked at it before rejecting it. Uncle Iroh had invited Lo Shuang and her family regardless, to maintain good relations between the Fire and Earth Kingdoms and it had given the local news distributers enough fodder for their gossip. But Zuko had been absolutely miserable for every second of their stay, painfully reminded that if not today, then one day he would have to pick a wife that was not Mai. 

She refused to meet his gaze, huffing as she took his excuse with a grain of salt. She couldn’t forget

the hurt she had felt at the news, so easily, wondering if the only thing holding him back from marriage had been her. 

Zuko felt a charged streak run through him as he stepped closer, grabbing her roughly by her shoulders to look at him, ‘I don’t care for Lo Shuang or any of those girls. Like a fucking idiot the only girl I ever cared for was you.’ 

Mai looked up at him, her senses overwhelmed with the sudden stimulus of his low, possessive growl so close to her and the grip of his hands on her upper arms. Her eyes couldn’t help but flicker down from his stormy eyes to his lips. She gathered her wits from the confusing mess they were in; her voice quivering a little as she spoke. 

‘You think I care for those people? I’ve met all these amazing men and women and no one made me feel even close to how I felt with you and I thought I was broken. I thought, this is it. I’m going to be sad forever. I left the one guy that made me feel alive and he never even tried to get me back.’ Her gaze shifted between his tempestuous eyes, ‘You know who’s the idiot? Me. I almost fucking died for you!’ 

In a flash he closed the distance between them, claiming her lips with his own. Any confusion she had moments ago, was burned down to a crisp from the heat of his touch. She flung her arms around him, letting him slip his demanding tongue into her mouth. 

His taste in her mouth felt otherworldly. She wanted to open her eyes, check if this was real, or if she had drifted into a daydream. But she couldn’t. So intense was the feeling that encapsulated her body. A faint moan escaped her lips leaving her weak and wanting. 

He broke away, trailing his lips to caress the soft flesh of her ear and she heard him whispering, ‘Ask me to stop, and I will.’ 

She whimpered as his powerful arms jerked her close, supporting her weight as she leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs securely around him. This felt right. It felt so right. 

He heaved her through the door, into the darkness of her room only illuminated by the bright moonlight that streamed through her window. 

He sat down on her large settee, leaning against it while Mai sat in his lap. 

‘I missed you,’ she mumbled against his lips. She wanted to show him how much she missed him and she didn’t trust her words enough. Her hands cupped his face on either side, the feeling of his rough scarred skin under her fingers making her feel euphoric. She poured out her love through the kisses she left on his face, his eyes, his jaw; fire trailing every peck that she left on his neck, moving down to his now bare chest, and then further. 

‘I missed you so much,’ she repeated breathlessly.

Zuko’s fingers worked to undo her hair, watching it cascade down her back, running his fingers through them. All the wavy kinks that marred her straight hair from where they had been twisted into her buns were the same as he remembered them. She felt her breath hitch as he pulled her back up to him with a secure grip on the nape of her neck.

Gazing into her lust-addled eyes, he spoke; his voice hoarse, ‘Do you kiss other people like this?’

The possessiveness in his voice, the jealous streak in his beautiful eyes would drive her mad. ‘No. No, only you,' she breathed. 

So much of what followed was a haze. Their clothes lay carelessly littered around her room as they had found their way to her bed. A flurry of hands and legs and hips and lips. An unstoppable and devastating flood of words and exclamations of love and some of pure ecstasy. 

Two years was far too long. Punishingly long. Every inch of her body from the tips of her toes to the ends of her hair was electrified to be touched by him again. When their lips were not engaged in the service of the other, they spilled words; any words to close the gaps that seemed to be wastefully slipping away. Mai worried that if she didn’t tell him how much she loved him now she would never get to say it again; Zuko making up for all the times he had woken up from his dreams before he could say all that he wanted to her.

‘I missed you.’

‘I need you.’

‘You’re beautiful.’

‘Who else can make you feel this way?’

‘No one. No one. Just you.’

‘You’re mine.’

He was insistent, burning with a passion for her but also with the jealousy of the thought of her being with someone else. Driven to brand her with his love, he left marks along her collarbone but in the very same moment, his thumb caressed her cheek gently.

‘I love you’

There could never ever be a match for the way she felt with him. Safe, happy, crazy. ‘Show me’

She couldn’t get enough of him. She was tired but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to sleep. She wanted the ache, wanted the weight of him on top of her. She wanted to watch his face as his forehead glistened with the little beads of sweat that formed in the humidity of the night.

She moaned and squirmed beneath him, feeling her release building as he set a frantic pace. She felt her heart pounding all over her body as they moved together. He suppressed a low groan from deep in his chest and she knew she had to tell him.

As they both inched closer to the edge, she pulled his head up from where it rested on her shoulder to look at him. He stared down at her, his eyes glazed over in concern, wondering if something made her uncomfortable and she had to remind herself that there could be a different time for her heart to explode with love.

As his damp hair hovered above her lashes, she panted, ‘Zuko, I’ve…I’ve never been with anyone else. I couldn’t.’

His eyes grew large in surprise. He hadn’t expected her to say that but the sensation her words had on him was unmatchable. They gasped as they fell over the edge together. She felt herself shudder as the relentless waves of pleasure gripped her body.

Holding on tightly to him, as she tried to suppress the cry of pleasure that threatened to break forth. She dropped her head back as she felt a flash of light burn inside of her eyelids. A flash as bright as the sun. As bright as him.

Moments passed as their breaths slowed down and Zuko shifted to lay beside her holding her close with an arm over her, his face buried in her hair. Before even the final aftershocks had completely subsided, she heard herself asking him to stay. He said he would, breathing goosebumps onto the skin on her shoulders.

The last thing Zuko saw over Mai’s side before his tired eyes fell shut was a picture of the two of them, that they had taken at some royal event, sitting on her bedside table. It wasn't a picture of all of them. It was a picture of just them.


	9. Chapter 9

Mai opened her eyes, finally fed up with the heat radiating in her room. She squinted sleepily at the open window, but given the thin layer of perspiration she felt on her face it did not seem to be helping very much. The bit of sky visible to her through the window looked a lighter, still dark but lighter. Maybe it was close to dawn.

She sat up straight in bed her sleep having completely evaporated at this point and looked to her side. Zuko was fast asleep, facing the other way and unsurprisingly covered in a blanket even in this sweltering weather.

 _Firebenders_ , she thought. Rolling her eyes.

She slipped on a robe and tiptoed out of the room, not completely sure where she intended to go. She just needed some thinking space.

On her way down to the kitchen, she spotted herself in the reflective surface of a black glass frame that lined her wall. A mess, like she expected. A perfect replica of her life.

She yawned, trying to flatten her unruly hair with her fingers. _Pathetic._ She had walked right in and curled up into a net of misery that would haunt her for many months in not years. Why did she have to go and remind herself how complete she felt with him when she knew he would leave the next morning? He would never want a full-fledged relationship with someone who had abandoned him.

She trudged down to the kitchen, freshening up in the sink, while the pot of water she set over the fire bubbled and steamed. She took muslin bags that encapsulated special tea leaves and placed them in two separate cups; she needed the company. She picked up the pot and carried the cups to the basement, hoping Azula was awake.

She stopped a few steps away, seeing the door to her room wide open and the metal chains that were supposed to be around her limbs laying on the floor. The room was empty.

Balancing the tea in her hands Mai bounded back up the stairs. _Oh no, oh no, oh no._

She streaked into her living room, looking around for Azula in vain as her complexion started to pale. Before she could drop the tray and alert Zuko, she noticed a dark head of hair beyond the glass panes in her hall.

She craned her head to see Azula sitting beyond the closed door onto the steps that led into her garden.

Mai exhaled loudly in relief, storming towards her.

‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded, sliding the door open with force.

‘Geez,’ Azula jumped at the sudden intrusion, looking up at Mai who stood towering above her. Azula noticed the tea in her hand, realising that Mai was making her way here after finding an empty basement, ‘Oh, you thought I ran off.’

‘No, I – denying it was stupid. Mai sighed, sitting down beside her, and quietly handing her a teacup.

Azula sipped on the tea. She had spent most of the night out here; the basement was far too stuffy for a human being to sufficiently breathe in. She perked looking down at the cup in her hand, ‘This is nice. Why does this taste familiar?’

‘Iroh sent these over,’ Mai responded.

Azula turned away, choosing to stay mum in response.

The sky was much lighter now, with a steadily brightening yellow glow. Sunrise couldn’t be long now.

‘So…’ Mai spoke slowly, ‘Zuko and I…

She trailed off in time, but it was already too much information. ‘Ugh. Gross,’ Azula stuck out her tongue.

‘I don’t know what it means,’ Mai responded defeatedly.

‘Well, what do you want me to say?’ Azula shrugged, ‘I know even little about what it means. I’ll say though I was very surprised when you guys broke up, what with your heroic tendencies to fight your nation for him and all.’

‘I don’t think either of us was in a place to be in a relationship. I kept trying to fill up the gap in my life with our relationship, and he was not ready to let me in just yet.’

Azula nodded in acknowledgment. She could never understand depending on anyone else to fill up any gaps in her life, neither could she imagine opening up to anyone beyond a certain level at all. Relationships in her inexperience only came down to one factor, ‘Do you still like him?’

‘It’s so pathetic, but I don’t think at any point I loved him even a little bit less,’ Mai shook her head.

‘That _is_ pathetic,’ Azula agreed. ‘You really couldn’t find one other person you liked better than that jackalope?’

‘Trust me, I _tried,’_ Mai groaned, as Azula raised an interested eyebrow at her, ‘There were friends, and friends’ friends, and co-workers and it just never stuck. I wasn’t even hoping to make an emotional connection or anything, but I couldn’t even get physical with them. It just…felt _wrong_.’

Mai looked sideways up at Azula, ‘Don’t laugh but, I thought maybe I was just used to being with a Firebender, so I –

‘What’ Azula chuckled.

‘Firebenders feel different I don’t know how to explain it!’ Mai huffed in a defensive fluster, ‘Long story short, it wasn’t about Firebenders, and to my morbid embarrassment I had to ask her to leave after bringing her all the way up to my room and that’s when I completely swore off romance.’

Before Mai had even finished her rushed confession, Azula spluttered on her tea and erupted into laughter.

‘Shut up. I was fucking lonely,’ Mai groaned with her face buried in her palm.

Azula tried to hold back her laughs to the best of her ability, ‘Yes, loneliness can be harsh.’

Then, she took a breath in. ‘Well, if it makes you feel any better, last New Year I was really just missing you know like…people, and warm food and _conversation_.’ She rolled her eyes, ‘So I pretended to be an orphan and this kind lady who was crossing the woods, that were at the time my present home, took me with her and fed and clothed me.’ 

Mai’s eyebrows were furrowed in empathy as she looked up from her lap, ‘Oh Azula, that’s –

‘I stole her Ostrichhorse and platinum knives before running off later,’ she interjected.

‘Oh,’ Mai dropped her shoulders. _There it was._

She looked up ahead at the sun that was now sending a warm orange glow to announce it's arrival. She stood then, brushing down her crumpled robes, ‘Well, I want you to know that the time I spent away from home with you and Ty Lee, regardless of how everything ended, was one of the most heartening times of my life. It’s my blueprint for how I want to things to be, so thank you for that.’

‘Yes,’ Azula nodded, ‘You do have a lot to thank me for.’

Mai left Azula on the steps, leaving go get dressed for their final expedition for Zuko and Azula’s getaway.

* * *

Mai had not even walked fully into her room when she realised her bed was completely empty. His clothes and shoes were gone as well. She picked up a small knife from her holster that lay on her dresser and swiftly, with catlike stealth entered the guest room where she knew he had sneaked off to, apparently the first chance he had gotten.

She walked in, pouncing on Zuko as he lay on the mattress and while she took him by surprise, he hardly retaliated. She had him pinned down with her legs on either side of his torso and the deadly, sharp edge of the knife to his throat.

‘Why did you leave?’ she asked dispassionately.

He sighed, looking up at her. ‘You don’t want this, Mai.’

‘I’m a big girl. I can decide for myself.’

‘But _why_?’ he asked, feeling the metal against his throat as he swallowed, ‘I mean it makes sense for me to be selfish and want to be with you because you’re amazing and beautiful, and you make me a better person and I just feel my best when I’m with you but I’m such a shitty boyfriend in return. Being a Fire Lord hasn’t gotten any easier and I’m not sure I can promise you a safer home or my undivided attention like you deserve.’

‘Zuko,’ Mai whined, trashing her knife to the side in frustration, ‘I don’t want your undivided attention! I want you to divide the things that take up all your attention and share them with me. I want you to let me help you make the Capital safer for both of us, and others. I want you to let me in and stop holding back because you think it’s protecting me.’ She planted her palms on the mattress on either side of his head for emphasis and looked straight into his eyes, ‘I want you to understand that being in a relationship isn’t a transaction. I don’t _need things_ from you. I just need to know if you love me.’

He stared up at her, his eyes shining in earnest, ‘You might as well have asked me if I love to breathe air.’

‘Then I don’t need to know anything else,’ she responded, bending down to kiss him.

She lay down next to him, his hands cupping her face as they broke away.

‘How?’ he asked. ‘You have so much here and so many amazing people that could give you the world, how do you still like me? I’m a moron.’

‘Guess that makes two of us,’ she shrugged. Then, with a small smile, she added, ‘I want to move back. Life here is good, and I’m so thankful for it, but I want to come back to my family and to you. I’m so much more independent now and I know that I am ready to make a life back home. Mother’s getting older and so is Tom-tom, someone needs to take care of them too. I want to come back and help the Firenation in building the new universities, I-I think my expertise could help.’

‘That,’ Zuko responded with the widest possible grin, ‘is the best thing I have heard in all of the past two years and if it wasn’t dawn, I would have yelled out of the window in joy.’

Mai giggled, snuggling into the crook of his neck, ‘We should go downstairs and prepare for you and Azula to leave.’

‘Yeah,’ he responded, feeling his eyes droop shut, ‘in ten.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this reads a little bit like a filler, I just wanted to tie in any loose ends. Also, sorry for the long absence, I got very busy with work stuff BUT I was also working on the side on another maiko piece that I have scheduled for maiko week (Oct 25th-30th) woohoo, so we're still winning haha. 
> 
> Next chapter will be out hopefully sooner than this one took :)


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